Truck drivers to pay instant overloading fines in EAC

Long-distance truck drivers will pay instant fines for overloading if the East African Community’s top decision making organ adopts a set of proposals to decriminalise the offence and channel the penalty fees into road maintenance.

National roads maintenance agencies will instead impose instant fines on offenders and use the proceeds to maintain and repair roads without causing bottlenecks in the movement of goods.

“We support this shift because it should help solve an array of challenges currently facing the sector. Directing the fines to specific road maintenance agencies is a plus for the protection of roads,” said Gilbert Lagat, the Kenya Shippers Council CEO.

To curb corruption that has over the years dogged efforts to enforce road regulations, the EAC Vehicle Load Control Bill 2012 wants payment of fines to be made in a cashless transaction involving use of credit and debit cards, guaranteed bank cheques or electronic transfer of funds.

“It should be a virtual system that makes everything traceable once a case is keyed into the system. Today, a lot of this remain opaque and breeds corruption, which defeats the fight against overloading,” Mr Lagat said.

Complicated criminal court procedures have also been blamed for fuelling corruption, handing the operators of overloaded vehicles an easy passage even as key road infrastructure bears the brunt of their actions.

The Bill further proposes the introduction of an appraisal system based on the severity of overloading and recommends suspension of driving and transport operator licences for habitual offenders.

It also fronts for the provision of common weighbridges at border posts and reciprocal recognition of weighing certificates issued by accredited weighing stations in neighbouring states to ease movement of goods.

Transporters who are pushing for adoption of the new laws argue that categorisation of overloading as a criminal case has failed to discourage its practice because the courts have mostly handed the offenders light fines that did not match the damage on roads.

In Kenya for instance, vehicle overload fines are collected by the courts and later transferred to the Exchequer with the Kenya National Highways Authority (Kenha), which checks gross and axle weight of vehicles, getting nothing from the court fines.

“It would be noble to hand the task of managing the problem of overloading to the roads authorities, but the mechanism of dealing with the offenders should be above board both in terms of deterrent measures such as fines and integrity of the persons involved,” said Eric Aligula, a senior analyst on infrastructure at the Kenya Institute of Public Policy Research and Analysis (Kippra). A study conducted in 2011 by the Japan International Co-operation Agency (Jica) showed that the elimination of overloading would save East Africa some $24 million in road maintenance costs every year.

“The cry of our transporters, consumers and producers is that this law be fast-tracked to enable a efficient and transparent transport system that can bring down the high cost of transport and its effect on trade and investment,” said Dr Enos Bukuku, EAC deputy secretary-general in-charge of planning and infrastructure.

Of the five EAC member countries, only Tanzania does not consider overloading a criminal act.

Tanzania handles overloading cases administratively with fines being paid instantly at police stations although some criminal provisions remain.

In Kenya, the first conviction for overloading attracts fines of between Sh5,000 and Sh200,000, depending on the excess weights carried ranging from one tonne to 10 tonnes.