Truck Weight Limit Fines: Rules & Avoidance

Weight-restricted roads are crucial for maintaining infrastructure and ensuring traffic safety. However, trucks still sometimes enter these areas, leading to unwanted consequences and significant fines. This article from Xe Tải Mỹ Đình provides detailed and updated information on truck weight limit fines, helping drivers and transportation businesses understand the regulations, avoid violations, and optimize their operations.

What are Weight-Restricted Roads and Why are They Necessary?

Weight-restricted roads, also known as load-limited roads, are routes where vehicles, especially trucks, are only allowed to travel if they meet certain weight requirements. The main purposes of these restrictions are:

Protecting road infrastructure: Heavy trucks exert significant pressure on road surfaces and bridges. Weight-restricted roads help prevent rapid infrastructure degradation, reducing maintenance and repair costs.
Ensuring traffic safety: Narrow roads, weak roads, or densely populated areas are not suitable for heavy trucks. Weight limits help reduce the risk of accidents and traffic congestion.
Rationalizing traffic flow: Weight-restricted roads help direct trucks to more suitable routes, reducing strain on unsuitable areas and optimizing freight movement.
Protecting the environment and residential areas: Limiting large trucks in urban and residential areas helps reduce noise pollution, dust, and other negative impacts on the living environment.

Currently, various forms of weight restrictions are applied, including:

Axle load limits: Regulations on the maximum weight allowed per axle.
Gross vehicle weight limits: Regulations on the maximum total weight allowed for the entire vehicle.
Time-based restrictions: Prohibiting truck traffic during certain hours of the day (e.g., peak hours).
Route-based restrictions: Prohibiting truck traffic on specific routes.

Road closed sign indicating traffic diversion to protect infrastructure and residential areas

Recognizing Weight Restriction Signs and Their Meanings

To comply with regulations and avoid truck weight limit fines, it is crucial to recognize and understand the meaning of traffic signs. Here are some common signs related to truck weight restrictions:

1. Signs P.106a, P.106b: No Trucks Allowed

Signs P.106a “No Trucks” and P.106b “No Trucks and Buses” are the most common signs related to trucks.

Sign P.106a: Prohibits all types of trucks, including small trucks and specialized vehicles.
Sign P.106b: Prohibits both trucks and buses (with 16 seats or more).

When encountering these signs, trucks are strictly prohibited from entering the road ahead, unless they have a special permit.

Road closed sign P.101 indicating no entry for all vehicles

2. Sign P.115: Vehicle Weight Limit

Sign P.115 “Vehicle Weight Limit” is circular, with a white background, red border, and a number in the center indicating the maximum weight allowed (e.g., 10T). This sign indicates that the road ahead is only allowed for vehicles with a total weight (vehicle and cargo) not exceeding the value shown on the sign.

3. Sign P.116: Axle Weight Limit

Sign P.116 “Axle Weight Limit” is also similar in shape to sign P.115, but instead of indicating the total weight, this sign indicates the maximum weight allowed per axle (e.g., 7T). This sign is often placed before bridges or weak road sections, requiring vehicles to ensure that the weight distribution on each axle does not exceed the limit.

4. Sign P.117: Vehicle Height Limit

Sign P.117 “Vehicle Height Limit” is usually rectangular or square, yellow, with a drawing of a truck and the height limit. This sign indicates the maximum height allowed for vehicles passing through this road section (usually overpasses, underpasses). Trucks carrying goods exceeding the height limit are not allowed to pass.

Supplementary sign S.508 "Time Restriction" often accompanies main signs to provide information about prohibited hours

Common Characteristics of Prohibition and Restriction Signs

Prohibition and weight restriction signs often share common characteristics that make them easily recognizable:

Shape: Usually circular or rectangular/square.
Color: Red or black border, white or yellow background, black symbols.
Symbols: Using clear symbols, numbers, and images to convey prohibition or restriction information.
Installation Location: Placed in easily visible locations, before the restricted road section or area, at intersections.

Understanding these recognition signs helps drivers be more proactive in controlling their vehicles, avoiding violations and truck weight limit fines.

Truck Weight Limit Fine Levels in 2024

According to Decree 100/2019/ND-CP (amended and supplemented by Decree 123/2021/ND-CP), the truck weight limit fines are specifically regulated as follows:

1. Offense of Entering a Prohibited Road or Area

For the offense of driving a car into a prohibited area or road with a “No Trucks” sign, the fine is from VND 2,000,000 to VND 3,000,000.

In addition to the fine, violators may also be subject to an additional penalty of revocation of the Driver’s License for 01 to 03 months.

2. Offense of Entering a Prohibited Road During Regulated Hours

In cases where a truck enters a prohibited road during regulated hours (e.g., roads prohibited for trucks during peak hours), the fine is similar to the offense of entering a prohibited road in general, i.e., from VND 2,000,000 to VND 3,000,000 and revocation of the Driver’s License for 01 to 03 months.

3. Offense of Carrying Overweight Cargo

Although this article focuses on the offense of entering prohibited roads, the offense of carrying overweight cargo is also closely related to weight-restricted roads. The fine for carrying overweight cargo depends on the level of overload and can be up to tens of millions of VND for serious overload cases. In addition to fines, drivers and vehicle owners may also have their Driver’s Licenses revoked, operations suspended, and other additional penalties.

Fine amount for entering prohibited roads, weight restricted roads for trucks ranges from 2 million to 3 million VND

Note: The above fines are subject to change according to current legal regulations. To ensure the most accurate information, drivers and vehicle owners should regularly update themselves on the latest legal documents regarding road traffic.

How to Avoid Truck Weight Limit Fines?

To avoid unnecessary truck weight limit fines, drivers and transportation businesses need to pay attention to:

Mastering the Road Traffic Law: Clearly understand the regulations on traffic signs, weight limits, vehicle dimensions, and other traffic rules.
Recognizing and obeying traffic signs: Pay attention to and strictly comply with traffic signs, especially prohibition and weight restriction signs.
Planning and choosing suitable routes: Before each trip, plan carefully, research the route thoroughly, and choose routes suitable for the vehicle type and cargo weight, avoiding prohibited or weight-restricted roads.
Updating information on prohibited and restricted roads: Monitor information from authorities, the press, and map applications to promptly grasp changes in traffic regulations and new prohibited or restricted roads.
Training and raising awareness for drivers: Transportation businesses need to organize training and disseminate legal knowledge about traffic to their drivers, raising their awareness of law compliance and driver responsibility.

Xe Tải Mỹ Đình hopes that this article has provided comprehensive and useful information about truck weight limit fines. Understanding regulations and complying with the law not only helps drivers avoid fines but also contributes to building a safe, civilized, and efficient traffic environment.

For more detailed advice on truck types suitable for weight regulations and issues related to freight transportation, please contact:

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