Police, Forestry Commission crack down on over-loaded trucks above 4.5 metres

The Bono Regional Police Command in collaboration with the Sunyani Area Timber Industry Development Division (TIDD) of the Forestry Commission has launched a special operation to clamp down on drivers who load their trucks with lumbers above the allowable limit of 4.5 metres.

This is in view of the frequent road accidents involving articulated trucks loaded with lumbers on the various parts of the roads in the region.

To this end, the regional police administration schooled staff of the Sunyani Area TIDD on how to measure vehicles to ensure they were not loaded above the stipulated 4.5 metres to prevent accidents.

Legal actions

Already, some articulated drivers have been prosecuted by a Sunyani Magistrate Court for loading their vehicles with lumbers above the stipulated 4.5 metres.

Recently, the court presided over by Justice Eric Daning, fined three articulated truck drivers GHC 500 each for similar offences and ordered them to reduce their loads to the normal height before moving the vehicles.

The three convicts who were in-charge of Cargo trucks are Sulemana Mubarak, 50, Ali Haryana, 36 and Adam Sameer, 27.

Mubarak was in charge of Man Diesel articulated truck with registration number GFK 1-21, Haryana also in charge of a Man Diesel articulated truck with registration number AS 5123-10 and Sameer in charge of DAF Cargo truck with registration number 11-KN-5531.

Each of them was convicted on their own plea of guilty and ordered to pay a fine of GHC 500 each, and reduced their loads to the normal height.

The convicts were arrested on Saturday, April 9, 2022, on the New Dormaa-Techiman Highway.

Accidents

The regional Commander of the MTTD, Superintendent Stephen Tenkorang, told journalists in Sunyani that accidents involving articulated trucks were on the increase and that necessitated the police action.

He said most of the accidents occurred because of overloading and pledged the police commitment to measure all vehicles loaded with lumbers to ensure they were within the stipulated limit.

“Police will stop every truck and measure the load with tape measurement to ensure they are not overloaded”, Supt Tenkorang emphasised.

He said those drivers who would violate the order would be arrested and prosecuted, explaining that loading trucks above the stipulated limit also pose danger to other road users.

Supt Tenkorang said the police in collaboration with the TIDD was necessary because TIDD was directly involved with the drivers and could advise drivers on stipulated 4.5 metres measurement.

He advised drivers to desist from overloading their trucks to avoid unnecessary accidents and urged them to acquire tape measures to ensure their load was measured before moving the vehicles.

Collaboration

For his part, the Area Manager of the TIDD, Mr. Abban Kofi Bonsu, pledged to co-operate with the police to ensure sanity on the road.

He said the commission would continue to engage and insist on drivers load according to the stipulated 4.5 metres in order to prevent accidents on the road.

Mr. Bonsu called on the drivers to cope with the measures put in place by the police and the TIDD and expressed the hope that the collaboration would help ensure sanity and reduce road accidents in the region.