The approval method for direct enforcement of overloading in france

Abstract

Since the 60’s, the policy makers have been aware of the impacts of overloading on traffic safety, on damages for infrastructure and on unfair competition between transport companies and transport modes. More resources were allocated for static controls to prevent overloading. The General Directorate for Infrastructure, Transport and the Sea (DGITM) of the French Ministry of Transport appointed 50 control officers equipped with 500 statics scales. However, it is not possible to control all the truck traffic using statics scale because these controls need policemen who pick up manually truck from the traffic. These operations take time, need a static weighing, controls officer and policemen. In 1995, the DGITM (former DTT) appointed IFSTTAR (former LCPC) to carry out studies about using low speed weigh-in-motion (LS-WIM) systems for enforcement purpose; LS-WIM system was type approved by the Legal Metrology in 2004. LS-WIM overcomes several disadvantages of static weighing, such as interception of HGV’s, long operation of weighing axle by axle, and extensive staff resource required. More trucks can be checked than using statics scales, but not all the traffic can be controlled. In 2004, the Minister of Transport announced the development of a HS-WIM network capable to detect and to preselect overloading. In 2015, 29 WIM sites were in operation all around France, mainly located on long-distance corridors and near the borders. These systems improve the efficiency of static or LSWIM control since only the suspicious overloaded trucks are checked. In 2013, the DGITM launched a new WIM project, led by IFSTTAR and involving Cerema, to investigate the feasibility of using HS-WIM systems for direct enforcement in a legal metrology frame. This 4 year project demonstrates the feasibility of type approval by OIML, a HS-WIM system for direct enforcement. Now, the work is in progress and is performed with the French legal metrology bureau. The paper will describe the working method used in order to approve HSWIM system for enforcement purpose.