The Ministry of Public Works and Transportation (MPWT) inspection stations seized over 200 overloaded trucks in July and collected fines totalling over 524 million riel ($128,500), their monthly report said.

The ministry noted in their document that they repossessed 217 trucks in July, five more than in June.

The report showed that Kampong Thom province’s Prasat station fined the most trucks with 30 penalties being handed out during July.

Over the course of last year, 923,000 trucks were inspected for possible weight violations, and ultimately 2,953 of those paid fines totalling $1.4 million.

In February of this year, Prime Minister Hun Sen called on authorities to get overloaded trucks off the road, as they caused accidents and destroyed infrastructure.

MPWT spokesman Vasim Sorya told The Post that he could not analyse the statistics as it has been only two months. However, he said overloaded trucks are still one of the main issues it deals with.

“Generally, a truck can only carry 40 tonnes, but it also depends on the road too. If it carries more than the limited amount, it will damage the road in the long-term."

“The road will start to crack from the inside out until it is completely damaged … we can’t really find the specific person who is responsible as many drivers use the road. However, we can seize trucks that do not follow the rules,” he said.

He said the ministry hasn’t found a solution better than their current one, and that trucks are still trying to skirt the law.

“However, we have been assigning more police officers on the streets,” he said.