Recently, the General Office of the Ministry of Transport issued the "Road transport enterprises and urban passenger transport enterprises safety production major accident potential judgment standards (Trial)", the illegal loading of the total mass of vehicles and goods caused by more than 100 tons of behavior judged as a major accident potential. At this point, "hundred ton king" into the penalty has all the legal requirements.

 

Overloading and over-limit transportation of trucks seriously endangers the safety of public transportation, which is a persistent problem in China's road transportation industry. The implementation of the judgment standard undoubtedly provides the relevant legal basis for the investigation of criminal responsibility for the overload accident, and also marks a new stage for the safety production management of China's road transportation industry.

 

There will be laws to deal with overloading

 

Overloaded vehicles, known as the "first killer of the road", not only seriously damage roads, Bridges and other public facilities, but also lead to vehicle tire burst, braking or steering failure, rollover and other accidents, easy to cause road traffic accidents. According to incomplete statistics, more than 80% of the road traffic accidents of heavy trucks are caused by overloading and over-limit transportation.

 

Truck overloading and overloading chaos, not only lead to the frequent occurrence of major traffic accidents, but also seriously disrupt the order of the transportation market, so that the freight industry into a vicious circle of "the more overloaded the lower the freight rate, the lower the freight rate, the more overloaded".

 

In recent years, in order to control the chronic disease of overloading and exceeding the limit, the policy of overloading from the central to the local government has been tightened. In July 2022, the "14th Five-Year Plan" National Road Traffic Safety Plan issued by the Office of The State Council Safety Committee clearly proposed to severely crack down on "100-ton king" and "large-ton small-label" vehicles, and at the same time study and promote the serious illegal overloading of trucks into the scope of the criminal law; At the local level, all over the country will carry out special rectification actions every year to crack down on illegal over-limit transportation.

 

After many years of attempts and efforts, the phenomenon of overloading of road transport vehicles in our country has obviously changed. However, due to the lack of normal treatment mechanism, truck overload occurs from time to time, and some areas even fall into the dilemma of "more and more treatment".

 

The reason why "hundred ton king" can run amuck in the market is complicated. First of all, compared to the high returns brought by overloading, the amount of penalties that transport practitioners have to bear is not high. Faced with the "still can afford" violation costs, many truck drivers choose to take risks; Secondly, due to the lack of a unified, complete and systematic legal basis, it is easy to cause irregular law enforcement in the process of treating excess, with penalties for custody, arbitrary charges, bribery law enforcement and other chaos. It is precisely because the illegal cost is low, and there are holes to drill, which leads to the phenomenon of overload and overlimit is difficult to eradicate.

 

In this case, the voice of the industry calling for overloading into the penalty is getting higher and higher, and the related topics are several times in the proposals and motions of the national two sessions.

 

"It is feasible and necessary to crack down on truck overloading by criminal means." The person in charge of the Automobile transport Technology Research Center of the Highway Science Research Institute of the Ministry of Transport pointed out that from the experience of foreign countries in the management of serious overloading of trucks, some countries have passed legislation to stipulate corresponding criminal responsibilities. In China, there is also a certain amount of practical experience for overload punishment, and in some areas with the basis for the practice of overloading, there are comprehensive and well-targeted local regulations for overloading and overloading, which provides an effective reference for other areas to control truck overloading and overloading and promulgating relevant regulations and rules. Now, the implementation of the judgment standard, especially the "hundred ton king" included in the judgment standard, rather than only limited to the administrative illegal level to deal with, will greatly increase the "mistake" cost of overloaded truck transport, form a stronger deterrent, so as to effectively reduce the overloading behavior.

 

 

Overloading can't just focus on the "last link"

 

Truck overloading is related to safety, people's livelihood and social issues, so it is imperative to rectify the mess. So, overloading into the penalty can become a radical cure "medicine"?

 

"From the perspective of violation costs, overload penalty is indeed an effective method, which is conducive to the healthy development of the road freight industry." However, it should be noted that the reason why the truck overload is not cured is mainly driven by interests, in addition to truck drivers, the interest chain also includes cargo owners, freight intermediaries, car companies and regulatory authorities and many other links." Chen Zhiqiang, president of the China Automotive Digital Research Institute, said that the group of truck drivers, as the last link in the overload, should not be the only link in the punishment.

 

A number of logistics industry experts also believe that after the punishment of overload, if only the driver is investigated for criminal responsibility according to law, it may be difficult to achieve the desired effect, and we should analyze all the subjects and specific behaviors in the entire overload transport industry chain from a systematic perspective, and make full use of the existing legal framework system to regulate and govern.

 

The judgment standard is to start with all links of the interest chain, in-depth analysis of the specific responsibilities of the over-limit transport vehicle carrier, loading enterprises, and freight enterprises, targeted penalties, and to hold the problem accountable to the end. It can be said that the introduction of the standard has gradually rationalized and standardized the punishment of overload.

 

In an interview with reporters, a number of transport practitioners said that for the management of overload, they are most concerned about whether it can achieve "one more than four penalties". Today, the inclusion of "100 ton King" in major accidents is a very good start, but at the specific implementation level, such as the relevant standards for criminal conviction, the boundary between administrative violations and criminal crimes, and other detailed rules need to be further refined.

 

The introduction of supporting rules to form an efficient treatment of super force

 

Truck overload and over-limit repeatedly prohibited, but also closely related to the environment of road freight industry. Over the years, not overloading and not making money has become the unspoken rule of the freight industry, which indicates that the road transportation field still needs to be further improved in terms of market standardization and transportation industry organization optimization.

 

"The risk of overloading is high, but in a seller's market, you can't make money without overloading." Henan Xinxiang truck driver Master Li helplessly said that in recent years, the road freight market has continued to be depressed, and the "0" down payment financial policy launched by manufacturers has continuously lowered the threshold for car purchase, which has exacerbated the situation of more cars and less goods. In addition, the right of discourse of truck drivers is weak, in order to make more money, can only be forced to meet market demand, resulting in the entire industry Mired in low price competition and overload cycle, "100 tons king" can be seen as the product of the transport market overcapacity background.

 

Master Liu, a truck driver in Changzhou, Jiangsu province, told reporters that under the situation of heavy rectification of overload by relevant departments, many truck drivers have realized that labeled and compliant transportation is a long-term solution. However, this needs to solve the problem of truck driver transportation costs and benefits, formulate a reasonable freight mechanism, to avoid vicious competition.

 

In this regard, Kong Zhen, an expert in the logistics industry, also believes that while scientific legislation and law enforcement are guaranteed, it is necessary to strengthen the protection of the legitimate rights and interests of cargo transport operators and drivers. "Previously, Shandong Province issued relevant local regulations, requiring the people's government at or above the county level should strengthen the monitoring and analysis of market operation, promote the reasonable formation of freight transport prices, rational utilization of transport capacity, regulate the new business behavior of network freight transport, and maintain the market order of fair competition. This idea is worth promoting in the country." 'he said.

 

There is no doubt that the control of overloading is a systematic project, which must be comprehensively treated by means of law, administration, economy and technology. In the long run, the control of overloading not only depends on the deterrent power of the law and zero tolerance in the process of law enforcement and implementation, but also should put forward rectification measures for the profit model of the transportation industry, curb vicious competition, and reverse the phenomenon of "overloading earns much more", which is bad money for good money.

 

In addition, in the process of regulating truck overload and over-limit disorder, relevant departments at all levels have accumulated a series of experience and practices, and some new models of over-control relying on scientific and technological means have emerged one after another. For example, through technical monitoring means, the exploration and application of "off-site law enforcement" in the overloading area is opened to reduce practical problems such as human punishment intervention and direct conflict between parties.

 

Originally published by China Automotive News, October 24, 2023