He said a recent survey has revealed that out of ten trucks weighed, only two or three of them would be found to have excess load which ranged between one to five tonnes as compared to the previous period where over ten tonnes of excess load were even found on some trucks.

Mr Awuni said this at a durbar for haulage and truck drivers organized by the Borderless Alliance in collaboration with the Ghana Shippers’ Authority with support from the West Africa Food Market, USAID West Africa Trade and Investment Hub, and USAID ADVANCE at Paga in the Upper East Region.

He said overloading has a severe impact on the road network and the GHA as part of measures to maintain the road network, introduced axle load stations at the various corridors to check overloading and maintain the road network along the corridors to facilitate easy movement of goods and services.

Mr Awuni said “these axle load stations are not there to keep trucks away from free movement, they are there to maintain the road by monitoring overloaded vehicles,” and admonished truck drivers to always endeavour to fill their fuel tanks before weighing and to know the empty weight of their vehicle prior to loading.

He called on heavy duty drivers to exercise patience and go through the routine process of weighing their trucks adding that excess load would be shed off if found on any truck and the culprit would pay a fine.

Mr Awuni said some heavy duty drivers along the country’s corridors have resorted to loading their vehicles above the normal height.He said loading a vehicle beyond the prescribed height of 4.5 metres per the road traffic regulation was dangerous and could damage life and property as the trucks move along the nation’s corridors.

Mr Awuni said the situation is alarming as overhead bridges and high tension electrical cables did not exceed five metres high and travelling through towns with such bridges and cables across major roads could have serious consequences.Chief Inspector Simon Tenkuu, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service in Accra, said the Police administration believed in smooth trade facilitation and would do everything to enhance the free flow of goods and services.

He appealed to truck drivers to adhere strictly to the maintenance rules of their vehicles adding that using green leaves and grasses on the road to indicate a vehicle breakdown instead of the warning triangles are unacceptable.

Chief Inspector Tenkuu said some truck drivers do install too many lights on their trucks and this often affects road users and this is besides acts of over speeding through major towns and cities.