City wants load limits on vehicles enforced

The load limits on vehicles using city streets or highways should be enforced, the city council in a recent resolution asked the City Traffic Operations Management and the Land Transportation Office. This council's resolution, approved last week, said vehicles must have a load limit because overloaded ones could cause faster wear and tear of city streets, resulting to bigger maintenance costs. Councilor Edgardo Labella, author of the resolution, also noted that cargoes of overloaded trucks or vehicles entering the city are even "unsecured" and are at risk of falling off or shifting, endanger other vehicles and pedestrians.

He cited records of the National Center of Transportation Studies showing that 120,000 out of 970,000 road accidents every year in the country have been linked to moving overloaded vehicles. Labella further said that overloaded vehicles could cause cracks and potholes on road pavements compromising convenience and safety of pedestrians and other motorists. He said the Philippines' load limit has been set at 13.5 tons per axle, which is even very liberal compared to between six and 12 tons per axle in other countries.