Get overweight killers off the blacktop

A comprehensive investigation into the collapse of a highway overpass in Wuxi, East China's Jiangsu province, has begun, local authorities said on Saturday. The collapse of the overpass, which happened at around 6:10 pm on Thursday, crushed three cars, killing three and injuring two others. China Daily writer Li Yang comments:

A preliminary investigation indicates two heavy-duty trucks crawling in the same lane on the overpass, which were carrying about 300 tons of rolled steel in total, about six times the upper limit of their combined carrying capacity, were the direct cause of the accident.

About 60 percent of serious traffic accidents in China are caused by overloading, and these accidents invariably have a high death rate.

The transportation administrative departments and traffic law-enforcement departments have never ceased in their efforts to prevent transportation companies from overloading their trucks. But it remains an almost conventional practice in the industry.

And it is no secret that some local law-enforcers regard dealing with overloaded trucks as a reliable source of grey income. As long as they collect enough fines, if not kickbacks, to lubricate their wagon balances, which are widely installed on main roads nationwide, they give green light to overladen trucks rolling away.

The Wuxi tragedy is just the latest example showing how dangerous these over-weighted behemoths are. And the damages they inflict on roads and bridges are not only direct threats to public safety, they also put a heavy burden on public finance－data show that overloading by 30 percent can increase the road maintenance expenditure by 200 percent.

It is noteworthy the transportation administrative departments started lobbying lawmakers to criminalize overloading behavior as early as three years ago. However, a variety of reasons have served to dissuade the legislature from accepting that suggestion, as it is the high transportation costs－which stem mainly from highway tolls, various kinds of fees and taxes on transportation industry, and the corruption of the watchdogs－that have forced the transportation companies to resort to overloading to survive the fierce competition of the industry.

Thus, only punishing the drivers, who are often employees of transportation companies and are invariably immediate victims in fatal accidents related to overloading, will not address the root cause of the problem. The price of overloading will continue to be paid in lives.