The data of the Road and Bridge Research Institute shows that every third lorry running on our roads is overloaded. A single lorry having the pressure of 20 tons on the axle wears out the road surface to the same extent as 2.5 million cars using that road. In practice it means that the roads often need to be repaired after 3 years of use.
NIK negatively evaluates the organisation and conduct of inspections of the vehicles’ weight by the Road Transport Inspectorate (the total weight and pressure on the axles). These inspections are carried out mainly on the national roads as the administrators of provincial, district and communal roads prepared very few vehicle weigh stations on their area. The provincial branches of the Road Transport Inspectorate did not make the inspections during the night, at weekends or on holidays. They rarely did it in the autumn-winter period. Dishonest carriers took advantage of that gap.
During the audit it turned out that the Provincial Road Transport Inspectorates in Białystok and Lublin used unsuitable weights to determine the vehicles’ total weight. Based on these measurements fines were imposed for exceeding permissible loads. According to the Central Office of Measures, the scales that measure the pressure on the wheels and axles should not be used to determine the vehicles’ weight. Since the Inspectorate ignores the position of the Central Office of Measures as well as the manuals and homologation certificates of these cars, the carriers may be questioning the legality and reliability of measurements. The NIK auditors also identified that in some cases measurements were made with the scales without a valid legalisation certificate. In the Inspectorate Branch in Lublin only four of nine sets of scales had such certificate. In Białystok some scales had not had valid legalisation for as long as 20 months.
The way of buying equipment for the Road Transport Inspectorate also alarmed NIK. In 2008, the Provincial Road Transport Inspectorates, infringing the public procurements law, bought thirty motorcycles to patrol local roads for more than PLN 1.5 million (lorry drivers often use these roads, trying to avoid road inspections in that way). However, the motorcycles were rarely used - in the whole 2010, the inspectors drove them a little more than one month on average. The public procurement law was also breached by the General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways which did not ensure proper supervision on the purchase of 30 sets of scales for the Inspectorates. As a consequence, the selected offer was not consistent with the description of the order object included in the specification.
According to NIK, the Central Road Transport Inspectorate appropriately defined the directions and annual plans for subordinate Inspectorates. Unfortunately, it did not make the effectiveness analysis of the vehicle weight inspections. That is why, in individual branches there were significant differences in that matter. For instance, the Provincial Road Transport Inspectorate in Łódź conducted in 2008 more than 1300 audits and imposed fines only in 11 cases (0.8 percent). For comparison, in the same year the Inspectorate in Bydgoszcz penalised nearly 60 percent of drivers in 420 road inspections. According to NIK, the inspectors lay too much stress on the inspections of overseas carriers, although domestic entrepreneurs much more often commit wrongdoings related to the vehicle weight. As a result, nearly a half of inspections concern foreigners but the fines charged from them make up less than 4 percent of all fines.
The Supreme Audit Office also points out that since 2006 the Ministers responsible for transport have not managed to transfer 17 on-site scales from the areas of the former border crossings (with Germany, Czech Republic and Slovakia) to domestic roads. These devices are not suitable for use anymore.
NIK stands in a position that the Minister of Infrastructure should now take steps to make sure the Inspectorates systematically conduct the vehicle weight inspections. The Minister should also increase supervision of the purchases of equipment for that unit.
