New system to bust overloaded trucks

Local police are using a new monitoring system to crack down on overloaded trucks.

The system began use in June on Hai’an Road in Yangpu District, Shanghai traffic police said yesterday. It uses an underground weight sensor, as well as cameras and license-plate reading technology, and can deliver vehicle information to police via a mobile app in under 30 seconds. Officers monitoring this data can rely cases of suspected overloading to their colleagues on patrol.

The system targets trucks leaving Fuxing Island via Hai’an Road Bridge — one of two bridges between the island and downtown Shanghai. The bridge has a limit of 20 tons, but trucks using it are often overweight.

“In an extreme case, we found a vehicle hauling construction waste that weighed over 60 tons,” said Ni Jiahui, an officer with the district’s mobile traffic police squad. 

Overloaded vehicles are detrimental to the bridge, which is old and in a bad condition, Ni said.

Making use of the new equipment, Yangpu police say they have tackled 156 cases of truck overloading on Fuxing Island so far.

Shanghai traffic police said the equipment will be introduced to other parts of the city in the future.

Zhang Long

Elsewhere in Shanghai, traffic police are setting up roadblocks with portable scales to bust truckers who exceed loads limits.

In Songjiang District, such scales have already nailed over 600 overloaded trucks.