Licensing authorities cracked down on several overloaded trucks on Friday forcing some drivers to dump their load.
In addition, the drivers were also given tickets in the sum of $750.
The exercise came as the Ministry of Works and Transport commissioned its new Weight Control Scale (weighbridge) NIDCO Golconda Site Office.
Trucks exiting and entering onto the Solomon Hochoy Highway were pulled over by license officers who were of the opinion that they exceeded their specified Maximum Gross Weight (MGW). Among the trucks targeted were those belonging to contracting firms, hardware outlets and transport companies.
Works and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan said that 90 per cent of the trucks taken off the road were overloaded. In a few cases, they were even 100 per cent over their specified MGW.
Loads of sand, gravel and clay blocks and other material were removed from trucks; some of them were even left behind. While other drivers called in other vehicles to transfer the excess items.
“When you look at what is happening with the road in terms of the infrastructure, we have had a lot of complaints that the road is deteriorating faster than normal. Clearly one of the reasons the Ministry identified for that is the fact that we have a lot of overweight trucks operating in areas that they’re not supposed to operate in. There are different areas in Trinidad and Tobago that trucks are licensed for but significant damage would have been caused to the highways, which allows the heavy trucks,” Sinanan said.
One errant driver said it was difficult to know how much weight the truck can hold because there are no scales available when loading. He said they simply went to the supplier and picked up a load of blocks.
There are already weight bridges in Caroni and Agua Santa and the Ministry hopes to commission three more together with a few mobile bridges by the end of the financial year.