Kenya National Highways Authority has doubled the fines for motorists caught overloading after it unveiled a new technology system to nab lawbreakers.
Speaking on Friday, March 22, KeNHA officer in charge of axle load control Dennis Cheruiyot noted that the state had rolled out a new technological system to track lawbreakers.
The new technology dubbed Virtual Weighing Bridge system involves unmanned stations meant to boost efficiency in the monitoring of heavy commercials trucks.
Cheruiyot further noted that the state had revised fines from Ksh 400,000 to Ksh 835,000 for any load above 10 tonnes.
Cheruiyot was speaking during a committee open session at the Busia Polytechnic Grounds.
How New system Works
According to KeNHA, the country has a total of nine weighbridge stations and four high-speed weigh-in-motion and multi-deck scales.
The stations are located at Mariakani, Mtwapa, Athi River, Gilgil, Webuye, Rongo, Juja, Busia and Isinya while the multi-deck scales have been put up at Mariakani, Athi River, Gilgil and Webuye.
High Speed Weighing in Motion (HSWIM) system has an overview camera-weight-violating vehicle documentation, automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras and staggered half-width sensors, with 3 rows of weighing sensors set-up.
The Virtual Weighbridge System (VWS) runs on a High Speed Weighing in Motion (HSWIM) backbone which captures data from the sensors and cameras, classifies the vehicle and thereafter transmits the database for analyses to the Control Center.
The Control Center housed at the Athi River Weighbridge and has processing units that analyses, store and allow access of the data through a web-based graphical user interface to the system operators, enforcement unit and the KeNHA officers in charge.
The system having distributed capability allows transmission of live data allowing the people in charge to use the data for enforcement purposes.
KeNHA has, on various occasions, argued that overloading by trucks often damaged roads at a faster rate.
