Jerusalem – Israel intends to initiate a pilot program which will automatically measure the weight of trucks on Israel’s only toll road- the Cross Israel Highway(Road 6), according to a report by the Calcalist newspaper. The program is part of a concerted effort by the Transportation Ministry to prevent lethal accidents involving heavy vehicles.
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Road 6 was chosen to lead the pilot program because of the high volume of heavy vehicles traversing it daily. 12% of the 22,000 vehicles on Road 6 daily are trucks as opposed to just 7% on other highways. The program will implement a system capable of weighing trucks as they drive, without interrupting traffic. Drivers infringing on legal weight limits will be signaled to pull over at an enforcement checkpoint and fined.
The costs of installing the system are estimated at NIS 2 million (approximately $567,000) and it is scheduled to begin operations in the second quarter of 2020.
Trucks up to 34 tons in weight are six times more likely to be involved in crashes in comparison to cars, and trucks weighing more than 34 tons are 24 times more likely to be involved than cars, according to data released by the Or Yarok association for prevention of road accidents.
Overweight trucks are a common phenomenon in Israel due to a shortage in drivers and vehicles as well as the fact that weighing is currently being done at random, allowing many violators to get away with their infringement, Hilla Haddad, deputy head of the Infrastructure and Development unit at the ministry, told Calcalist. “We want to use technology to get to everyone,” she said. “A truck that is overweight has trouble braking and is at risk of turning over,” she added. “An accident involving a truck not only costs lives but also creates traffic jams that translate into millions of shekels in damages to the local industry.”