Environment staff intensify truck monitoring patrol |27 July 2015

Staff of the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change (MEECC) are intensifying their patrols to detect and deal with the problem of unsecured loads on public roads.

With the help of the traffic police, they have been intensifying truck monitoring on Mahé as part of efforts to ensure that the public roads remain free from pollution.

Noting that more and more drivers are securing their loads properly, the ministry said there is still room for improvement.

“More and more drivers are securing their load than before,” said Andre Freminot, chief environment police of the enforcement unit of the standard and enforcement section of the wildlife, enforcement and permits division of the MEECC.

He also remarked that the department has a total of 15 cases in court with regard to non compliance by drivers.

Asked whether the drivers are aware of this regulation, Mr Freminot replied in the affirmative.

“Yes, they are well aware as we have previously produced a TV spot which was aired last year. Also the clause is written down on the fixed penalty that is issued to them but they still fail to comply,” said Mr Freminot.

He added that cases of repeat offenders will be sent directly to court for prosecution where the penalty will be more severe than being issued with a fixed penalty.

Since January this year, a total number of 70 fixed penalty notices have been issued by the environment police officers.

The ministry is reminding the general public that failure to secure the load of a vehicle is an offence under the Environment Protection Act. Drivers who commit such an offence will be issued with a fixed penalty notice of R500 which the ministry has just warned will be more severe now.

Failure to pay the notice within 14 days will result in legal action being taken against these drivers whereby they will be liable to a fine of up to R5,000.

Unsecured load in a vehicle can be hazardous to human health and can contribute to road accidents. Therefore drivers are being urged to secure the load of their vehicles at all times.

The monitoring programme will also be conducted on Praslin in the future.