The annual inspection of trucks and pickup vans will now take place at the headquarters of the Transport Division’s headquarters in Caroni.
This as the inspection bays were officially opened yesterday and in effect halted inspection of heavy vehicles at other licensing offices in Trinidad.
The new facility at Caroni was opened to the public in February but the work on the inspection bays was not complete.
Trucks and vans cannot be inspected at private garages authorised by the Licensing Division.
Works and Transport Minister, Rohan Sinanan, who delivered the feature address at the event, said the move will help ease the traffic into Port-of-Spain.
“This move will free-up the roads. The reality is that Wrightson Road (facility) is almost impassable during certain hours so the removal of some of these wide and heavy vehicles will certainly provide some relief,” Sinanan said.
Heavy-T drivers will be offered better and more state-of-the-art equipment that is able to meet the demand. Caroni has the capacity to service vehicles that are 40 feet and 30 tonnes in weight.
Sinanan said that while the industry relied on the utility of heavy-T vehicles, the drivers of these vehicles contribute to the damaging roads when they violate the laws that prohibit them from driving along certain routes.
As a result, the Minister called on police officers, to carry out, “to the full extent, their authority to enforce the applicable laws and encourage truck owners to do the right thing and refrain from passing on roads that were not designed to carry the burden of their heavy trucks’ weight.”
He said drivers of heavy vehicles are given a licence by the Director of Highways to use specific routes such as the highways and main roads but noted many were not conforming to such regulations.
“What we find happening is that in order to cut time and get out of traffic, these trucks take any back roads that would allow them faster trips. By doing this they have been damaging these roads. Many of our back roads in Trinidad lack a solid foundation suitable for the capacity of heavy vehicles. These roads run the risk of caving in due to the truck’s excessive weight,” Sinanan said.
He reiterated that to mitigate the risk, the Ministry is in the process of acquiring four scales and “very soon, we will be monitoring such violation on our secondary roads to protect them from heavy truck passage.”