Hungary tightens traffic rules and will adopt, from 1 January 2018, a measure that will mainly target transporters. Starting with this date, companies whose vehicles will exceed the maximum permissible road weight on the roads in the neighboring country will be fined. The measure, which applies to vehicles weighing over 20 tonnes, has been taken to reduce traffic accidents, which are often the cause of overloading lorries. Hungary also hopes to prevent damage to the running surface by doing so.
Thus, since September, the dynamic weighing system TMS has been introduced, which allows the vehicle to be checked on the road. It’s a WIM-weigh in Motion system, about 200 meters away, placed near the counters that check in and check the HU-GO road tax. The sensors record the weight and, if it is exceeded, the carrier will be fined. In total, 89 such centers will be operational for weight verification.
In order to implement this new measure, the authorities decided to set up a control department consisting of 70-100 controllers who will only stop foreign vehicles based on alerts received from the system. According to the project, the controllers will be able to withhold the vehicles until payment of the fine. Budapest intends to extend the measure so that “any type of vehicle on the Hungarian roads will be checked and fined if it exceeds the maximum permissible load,” the Hungarian Development Ministry informed. And because it is better to prevent than to correct, developers of telematics solutions are already preparing systems designed to help carriers avoid overweight and possible fines.
WebEye, for example, has a system consisting of sensors mounted on the air cushions of the tractor head of the semi-trailer, which connects to the CAN network. The data provided will be displayed, and in case of overloads, alerts will be issued to the carriers. They will therefore be able to take measures to correct the weight so that the Hungarian legislation is respected.
“Our mission is to provide carriers with solutions to help them perform better. European transport legislation is constantly changing and it is important to adapt, to come quickly with a tool in support of our customers. That’s what we do all the time, the R & D department is working on a continuous fire, and we hope to have this new solution as soon as possible that will help our customers take action on time, “said Levente Gall, WebEye Romania’s General Manager.
The TMS system has a 150-day overloading period, which means that the car detected as having a weight above the maximum admissible limit can be amended within 150 days upon return to Hungary if this is not the case happened on the first pass. There is also the risk that an offender will be fined several times in Hungary because the fine is applied from 8 to 8 hours.
