Trailer trucks loaded with heavy steel plates and wires are posing threats to people and vehicles on streets in Ho Chi Minh City, a Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper survey has found. The survey was made after many accidents occurred in the city involving trailer trucks carrying steel products improperly and unsafely. Several people were injured in these accidents. Every afternoon, many trailer trucks carrying steel products are seen leaving Ben Nghe Port in District 7 on Huynh Tan Phat Street to travel to their delivery places. Many of these trucks are loaded with steel plates or rolls that are piled in high blocks on the trailer. These steel items are bound to each other but they are not tied to the bodies of the trailers. No tools are used as wedges or chocks to prevent the steel blocks from falling off the trailers or from moving forward or backward when the driver brakes. Within 30 minutes on one recent day, Tuoi Tre correspondents saw about 20 such trailer trucks leave the port on Huynh Tan Phat Street, which was crowded with people and vehicles. The most worrying moments came when some of these trucks turned at the intersection of Huynh Tan Phat and Nguyen Van Linh Streets and their trailers leaned to one side, with many steel blocks on them looking like they were about to fall off. Nguyen Thi Tuyet Mai, a senior student at the Ho Chi Minh City University of Social Sciences and Humanites, told Tuoi Tre that she was very afraid of traveling near such trucks. “Such trucks are loaded with heavy steel blocks that were tied simply, so it is very dangerous when their drivers brake in emergency cases or when they go up or down bridges,” Mai said. Bui Ngoc Em, 41, a former container truck driver, said many dangerous incidents occurred because blocks of steels were not tied to the bodies of the trailers. When the wire that tied blocks of steel to each other breaks or becomes loose, the steel plates or wires could fall off at any time, Em warned. Rules have to be obeyed Nguyen Van Tinh, the owner of a transport company in District 4, told Tuoi Tre that many trailer truck drivers were very careless in loading goods, including steel plates or wires, on their vehicles. As a result, the goods can fall off and cause accidents at any time, Tinh said.  “In my company, ensuring safety during goods transportation is a duty that is put above all else. When transporting rolls of steel wires, we always use proper wedges or chocks to keep them from rolling,” Tinh said. Another important issue is that all drivers are requested to comply with regulations on speed limits while transporting goods, he added. Thai Van Chung, general secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Goods Transportation Association, said there is a regulation on how to load goods on means of transport and the association often asks drivers of its business members to abide by the rule.  Over the past several years, almost no drivers of vehicles of the business members of the association have been punished for violating this regulation, Chung said.  Le Hong Viet, deputy chief inspector of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport, said that traffic inspectors have mainly paid attention to detecting overloading, not whether goods are loaded properly or not.    Whenever traffic inspectors find unsafe goods loading, they often give warnings, not penalties, to the drivers, Viet said. He added that some recent accidents involving trailer trucks were caused by wires breaking, adding that most drivers have a good sense in arranging goods on trailers. An inspection official said control will be tightened at the gates of ports in the coming time to ensure that all drivers have carefully tied cargo on their trailers.  

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