A traffic police patrol in Jinan, Shandong Province, recently busted eight drivers for severely overloading while driving on the freeway, Qilu Evening News reported.

The freeway patrol police launched a surprise check on trucks the night of May 11 and busted several vehicles which were overloaded by at least 100 percent of their designed capabilities.

Police said one lorry, designed to carry 1.5 ton cargo maximum, was caught cruising with 47 ton in rocks on board, or an overloading by a massive 3,000 percent. In other words, the lorry was doing the job of 30 vehicles at once.

The anonymous driver was immediately fined 1,000 yuan (US$161.3) in addition to having six points deducted from his license.

The driver said he was consigned to ship these rocks from Jinan to Hebei Province, and could earn meagre 200 yuan (US$32.3) per trip. He overloaded the vehicle mainly to make more money.

He admitted the excessive weight did make the brakes fail sometimes, during which he would experience difficulties controlling the vehicle in unforeseen circumstances.

"My [12] points [in an annual cycle] were almost gone already prior to this violation," he said, feeling remorse about a license downgrade as the six point deduction would put him back in driving school; worse still, his B-License -- necessary to operate large vehicles -- will be downgraded to a C-type, meaning he cannot work as a truck driver for some time to come.

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