A 44-year-old tractor driver was arrested by North West Public traffic police on Wednesday morning for exceeding the permissible overloading mass by 11 tons. The driver is expected to appear at the Zeerust Magistrates Court later this afternoon. The tractor driver had loaded 18 pellets of cement on a single-axle tractor with a three-axle trailer at the Pretoria Portland Cement factory and was on his way to a farm 28 kilometers away from Zeerust when he was stopped at a T-junction on the Zeerust-Ottoshoop section of the N4.

Meanwhile, North West MEC for Public Safety, Howard Yawa, says that his department is determined to clamp down on overloading of heavy vehicles as part of implementation of rolling enforcement plan as they contribute to a large extent to potholes and damage to public road surface. According to the National Road Traffic Act, the maximum fine that a court may impose for overloading is R120 000 or five years imprisonment.