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JPJ must give weight to the problem of overloaded lorries

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The weighbridge network must be improved with the latest mobile systems which can generate reports that will be valid in court.

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Free Malaysia Today

When the mammoth tanker Ever Given blocked the Suez Canal in March, about 360 ships were jammed on the north and south approaches, while some other vessels were rerouted around the tip of Africa.

The event showed the importance of land routes, including China’s US$60 billion Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), in which Peninsular Malaya is one of the three international passageways.

It is in this context that it’s timely for Malaysia to quickly update its land transport infrastructure to maximise the potential gains of the BRI and regional land transport.

One of Malaysia’s priorities should be a strategic re-engineering of the national weighbridge network of 50 stations so that they are complemented by the latest generation of mobile systems which generate weight reports that comply with a global world standard and are valid in a court of law.

In this context of a common global standard, Malaysia’s mission would be to join as a full member of the International Organisation of Legal Metrology (OIML) so that the nation’s network of public roads and highways have a comprehensive legal structure with which government agencies can enforce weight restrictions on heavy trucks using the latest generation of mobile weighbridges.

There are 61 full members in the OIML, including China.

Malaysia’s road network covers 250,023km of which 1,957km comprises expressways and the rest paved and unpaved roads.

But while this would seem like a good starting point for infrastructure, it must be noted that the static weigh stations are largely ceremonial because of sustained mischief by miscreants over the past 20 years.

It would appear that the static equipment failure is so persistent that the road transport department (JPJ) doesn’t want to waste any more funds repairing the weighbridges.

As it is, Malaysia is one of 64 corresponding members rather than a full member state of the OIML, a global intergovernmental organisation whose primary aim is to harmonise the regulations and metrological controls applied by the national metrological services, or related organisations, of its 61 member states.

The prevention of premature damage to the roads is also a matter of traffic safety as potholes and manholes cause traffic crashes due to sudden lane-changing particularly in urban and municipal roads.

While Peninsular Malaysia’s road network has been developed over the past 120 years to connect the palm oil and rubber plantations, timber yards and tin mines, and now semiconductor and glove factories to the sea and air ports, the quality of its roads vary from world-class to potholed in the urban areas.

While there is already a legal framework in Malaysia to protect the roads from premature failure including the Weight Restriction Orders from the Public Works Department or JKR, the malfunction of the weigh station network means that the maintenance budget is overwhelmed and premature road failure the norm.

The problem with the static weighbridge stations is that overloaded lorries will avoid it using a different route. Secondly, lorries (or trucks as Malaysians use the term interchangeably) which are suspected of overloading have to travel a long distance to the weigh station and the enforcement team can be accused of harassing the truck operator.

The solution is to include a system of portable and mobile weighing scales that are used in many countries especially in Europe and America. Good portable weighing scales are light (15kg to 18kg), accurate, easy to set up on a flat stretch of road, and in areas where there are hot spots of lorry overloading.

The portable weighing scale will weigh axle by axle and can accommodate lorries up to 10 axles compared with weigh stations which max out at 6 axles.

To be worth the investment, the portable weighing scale must have OIML certification because this is the enabling document that establishes the credibility of its weight reports as valid evidence in a court of law.

What is OIML certification

Weighing scales or permanent stations must meet the OIML specification and be issued with a certificate.

For enforcement of overloading lorries, the OIML Certification is for class IV accuracy meaning it must have a plus or minus 0.5% accuracy when calibrated using an approved calibration scale.

The OIML certification is mandatory for enforcement purposes.

Without OIML certification the weighing scale cannot be used and JPJ will lose the case if taken to court.

As the weight enforcement authority, JPJ has to make sure weighing scales used for enforcement are OIML certified in order to avoid legal challenges when issuing summons.

Saving our roads and saving lives

JPJ has limited manpower as there are many highways to check. Currently it is the only authority for weight enforcement but with the weigh station network being mostly ineffective, the government is losing millions due to spoiled roads and accidents and it should consider roping in other departments in weight enforcement where required.

Mobile weigh stations are operated by the police in Indonesia while in Thailand they are operated by the Department of Rural Roads and Department of Highways. But since the system of static weigh stations has not been successful, probably the inclusion of OIML certified mobile weigh stations among JPJ’s assets may solve the problem.

Otherwise, it may be time for the government to consider a multiagency task force headed by the JPJ including the police, Malaysian Highway Authority, and JKR to effectively enforce weight restriction orders.

 

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.

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