Work sites may lose permits for breaches
PUBLISHED : 11 Nov 2023 at 08:13
The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) plans to install weighing technology for trucks throughout the city in the wake of a midweek accident on busy Sukhumvit Road involving an overweight lorry, spokesman Aekvarunyoo Amarapala said on Friday.
Mr Aekvarunyoo said the BMA is studying the use of the weigh-in-motion measuring technology. After the study is completed, the BMA will pilot-test the system at 10 locations before implementing it citywide.
The BMA will also inspect 317 construction sites and plans to add another regulation stating that if a construction site allows overweight lorries to enter or leave, the BMA will cancel its construction permit, he said.
The BMA has received 508 complaints related to trucks through the Traffy Fondue platform, he said. The top three issues are their running during prohibited hours, emitting black exhaust fumes and objects falling from them.
Mr Aekvarunyoo said 362 cases have been successfully resolved so far.
Regarding the heavily loaded 10-wheeler that broke a concrete slab placed over the opening to an underground cable trench in Phra Khanong district on Wednesday morning, causing two injuries, police have begun taking legal action.
Pol Maj Gen Panlop Araemla, acting as deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Bureau (MPB), said two charges had been filed against the driver: reckless driving, causing damage to others or their assets, and driving a lorry carrying weight above the legal limit.
The law allows for a lorry to carry up to 25 tonnes, but the 10-wheeler was found to be carrying 37.4 tonnes, he said.
Police have also questioned the owner of the lorry, who has a fleet of six trucks in total, to check if he intended for it to leave the construction site with an illegal weight of soil or if he had modified it in any way so it could carry more cargo.
Pol Maj Gen Panlop said that Pol Gen Torsak Sukvimol, the national police chief, has ordered investigators to look into any other claims related to the accident, including the bribery of officials and the safety of the underground construction.
As the truck in question was seen with a green star-shaped sticker with the letter B printed on it, MPB commissioner Pol Lt Gen Thiti Saengsawang said the MPB worked with the Office of the Inspector General to determine whether the sticker was a symbol that a bribe had been paid. The result is expected within the next few days, he said.
However, Wichai Sawangkajorn, president of the Northeastern Transportation Club, said that the truck drivers had resorted to paying bribes due to the rushed deadline for the construction project.
Meanwhile, the BMA’s Public Works Department arrested two overweight lorries in Bang Khen district on Friday. The drivers were fined 1,000 baht, and the vehicles were seized.