About 100 drivers of trucks carrying sugar cane exceeding the height limits have been arrested and fined 1,000 baht each in Khon Kaen in less than a month as part of a highway police operation to reduce road accidents.
Highway police use a PVC tube to measure the height of a sugar cane truck. Drivers of trucks found to have carried sugar cane exceeding four metres high will be fined 1,000 baht each as part of measures to reduce road accidents involving sugar cane trucks (Photo by Jakkrapan Nathanri)
Highway police have been issued a four-metre-high PVC pipe, dubbed a "selfie stick’’ by people passing by, and set up checkpoints on main roads in Khon Kaen to crack down on overloaded trucks carrying sugar cane.
The PVC tube is used to measure the height of trucks and trailers loaded with cane. The height is measured from the road surface.
Drivers of trucks found to exceed the load height are fined 1,000 baht each, Pol Col Pornchai Saengsila said on Tuesday.
He was speaking after he and his men manned a checkpoint at kilometre maker 344-345 on the Mittraparb Road in Muang district of Khon Kaen.
Since early December, about 100 sugar cane truck drivers had been fined, Pol Col Pornchai said. Most arrests were made between 3pm and 7pm.
He warned truck operators and sugar millers in Khon Kaen to strictly abide by the law. Their trucks must not carry a sugar cane cargo exceeding the weight and height limits. Red flags or lights must be put at the rear of trucks or the end of protruding cane so they can be seen by following motorists.