Truckers continue to ignore altitude reports en masse | Inland

In 2021, the barriers in front of a tunnel went down a total of 8130 times on national roads because a truck was loaded too high. That was almost 800 times more often than the year before, according to figures from RWS.

The Drechttunnel leads the hated ranking with 2146 closures. That was significantly more than in 2020, when the underpass was closed to traffic 1,243 times. The Velser (1599), Coen (1299) and Noordtunnel (1176) follow at a respectable distance.

“It remains a persistent problem that we must continue to focus on. This is evident from these recent figures,” says Remco de Korte of RWS. “Sometimes the truckers are not aware of any harm. Blowing tarpaulins, protruding rods or over-suspended trucks can be just those centimeters at the moment a height measurement is passed to set the alarm bells ringing. That is why we would like to point out to drivers that before they start driving, they always carefully measure whether the loading height does not exceed four meters, which is the legal standard throughout Europe.” A driver who is pulled over with a vehicle that is too high risks a fine of 470 euros, which can go up to 1,100 euros. “If there is a bump in the road, our detection can detect a truck that bounces slightly as too high. That is why our inspectors always measure the truck and we use a margin of 6 centimeters. But if you go above that, you will be fined,” said the spokesman. RWS uses detection gates in many places to identify trucks that are overloaded at an early stage. This is reported to the driver on a warning sign, so that he can take another exit before the tunnel. If the driver continues to drive, the lights will turn red and the barriers will go down.

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