Gyeonggi-do Intensifies Crackdown on 'Overloaded Vehicles,' Major Cause of Traffic Accidents

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Gyeonggi Province will intensively crack down on overloaded vehicles on 59 routes, including local roads and delegated national roads managed by the province, until the end of this year to prevent major traffic accidents and minimize road damage.

To this end, Gyeonggi Province operates five mobile inspection teams on a regular basis and conducts joint inspections quarterly in cooperation with the Suwon and Uijeongbu National Land Management Offices, police stations, city and county offices, and the Korea Transportation Safety Authority.

The specific targets for inspection are vehicles exceeding a total weight of 40 tons, axle weight of 10 tons, height of 4 meters, width of 2.5 meters, and length of 16.7 meters, including freight trucks and construction machinery.

Fines of up to 3 million KRW will be imposed on violating vehicles depending on the number of offenses.

Along with cracking down on vehicles violating operation restrictions (overloading), the province sent cooperation letters and promotional materials to about 150 companies causing overloading and freight vehicle transport business associations to prevent overloading.

A Gyeonggi Province Construction Headquarters official explained, "Overloaded vehicles can lead to major accidents involving casualties due to road damage and increased braking distance. To eradicate overloading of freight vehicles, we will actively promote lawful driving to drivers, companies causing overloading, and workers related to overloading throughout the year while conducting inspections."