Truck driver fined Sh47 million for overloading
The Kenya National Highways Authority (Kenha) has slapped a truck driver with a Sh46.9 million fine for violating axle load regulations on Mombasa Road.
The truck which had a pulling trailer carrying sand was stopped by Kenha officers and the Axle Load Enforcement and Highways Unit police officers on Thursday morning in Mavoko, along Mombasa road.
Kenha Senior Engineer Axle Load Control Eng Kennedy Ndugire said the truck was found to have exceeded the normal weight of between 54,000kgs.
“Upon weighing, it was carrying a gross weight of 83,940kgs those overloaded by 29,940kgs which attracted a Sh46,898,693 fine under the East Africa Community Vehicle Load Act, 2016,” said Eng Ndugire.
The driver of the truck was flagged down by the police and while trying to escape, collided with an oncoming motor vehicle damaging it.
Ndugire said the agency will do everything to protect roads from overloaded trucks.
He said the Regional Trunk Road Network stretching from Mombasa to Malaba is protected under the East African Community Vehicle Load Control Act, 2016, which stipulates that an overloaded truck will be charged a fine for excess cargo, which will also be unloaded before it is allowed to continue with its journey.
He also revealed that the same vehicle was intercepted and detained at Mashuuru Police Station on December 16, 2023, with an overload of 25,050kgs.
“The driver was fined Sh100,000 on December 18, 2023, while the owner was discharged under Sec 35 of the Penal code by the Kajiado law courts,” he added.
Ndugire said the truck will be charged a parking fee of 50 dollars a day.
“We will not relent in protecting our roads. In 60 days, if the owner will not have paid the fine, he will be deemed to have forfeited the vehicle to the state and Kenha will get a court order to sell the vehicle,” he said.
Officer Commanding the Axle Load Enforcement and Highways Unit, Senior Superintendent of Police John Gichohi said police will continue working with other relevant authorities to protect the roads despite intimidation from a few individuals.
“We will implement the law and no amount of intimidation will stop us,” he added.
At the Mlolongo weighbridge, several river sand transport trucks have been grounded for disregarding the axle regulations. Kenha has classified Kajiado-Mashuru and Garissa roads among roads at high risk from sand trucks that operate at night.
The overloaded trucks use other smaller roads to evade the mobile weighbridges.
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