Overloaded lorries: Wee urges review on fines against driver but not companies

 

Transport Minister Wee Ka Siong has urged the Road Transport Department (RTD) and Land Public Transport Agency (APAD) to review fines issued against drivers of overloaded lorries.

This is after he met with a driver who had been blacklisted by the RTD for being a repeat offender for driving overloaded lorries.

Wee said that Arumugam Supermaniam had told him that it was not his choice to transport overloaded goods, but was asked to by his employers.

"As a step forward, I have immediately asked the RTD and APAD to review the act of fining drivers who transport overloaded cargo but not the employers.

"Such actions have a negative impact on drivers when they can't settle the fines and are blacklisted by the RTD

"As a driver, Arumugam had to bear all the fines instead of the company he worked for," he said in a Facebook post today.

Previously, Wee's predecessor Anthony Loke noted that under the RTD Act, fines for overloaded lorries would be issued to both the driver and the companies, whereas under the Land Public Transportation Act fines are issued to the companies only.

Arumugam had previously shared his woes in a video that went viral on social media.

During their meeting (photo above), Wee handed the driver renewed licence valid for five years. - Mkini