YOUR VIEW: Prevent heavy loads from falling off vehicles
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Recently there was this case of fallen bricks from a lorry and, just a couple of days ago, one of the highways was brought to a standstill as metal beams fell off the heavy vehicle when it was negotiating a turn.
If left unchecked, similar situations can seriously endanger innocent lives. I have brought this up time and again but nobody seems to be interested.
Can someone be kind enough to bring this to the attention of the authorities?
Excerpts from my email to the traffic police (dated 15 April 2010):
“In tandem with the increased level of construction activities in Singapore… many heavy vehicles laden with pre-cast concrete structures ply the roads during peak periods and I had personally observed that they were sometimes "fastened" by some belting or even nylon ropes.
“As a registered professional engineer by training, I have noticed on several occasions that the heavy loads were fastened very precariously and any unexpected forces generated from braking, mounting of kerbs, etc. will almost certainly cause the fastening to give way and will have dire safety implications on any motorist/pedestrians in its immediate vicinity.
“My suggestion is that some form of legislation to ensure that transportation of such loads has to be verified by some approved/qualified persons and where necessary, to be escorted by auxiliary police.
“I understand that in the latter case, it will attract outcry from the business community as there will be additional cost involved but we cannot leave the judgement entirely to the drivers who usually lacks technical competence is assessing the safety implications to other road users under such circumstances.”
Patrick Foong, 54
Managing director of an engineering and management services company
