Handlebars take flex

Wheel clamp could not stop “rolling bomb”

Such was the desolate state of an articulated truck secured with a wheel clamp next to the A8. Three Afghans and a Kyrgyz wanted to drive off with it.(Bild: Polizei OÖ)

There are far more "rolling bombs" on our roads than you might think. Last year, the regional traffic department of the Upper Austrian police filed 4849 reports of defective heavy vehicles. But some drivers even simply flex open the wheel clamp.

As reported, a rear-end collision on the A8 motorway on Monday uncovered a wild scam: Three Afghans and a Kyrgyz had previously cracked the wheel clamp on a severely defective articulated truck and were traveling towards Germany. Police officers had taken the completely wrecked heavy vehicle out of circulation ten days earlier and secured it. But the quartet was not impressed. They simply removed the damaged tire and wheel clamp. A procedure that comes as no great surprise to Klaus Scherleitner, head of the provincial traffic department: "It happens again and again that drivers simply cut off the wheel clamps with a Akku-Flex."

Last year, we had to prohibit a total of 2734 heavy goods vehicles from continuing their journey.

Klaus Scherleitner leitet die Landesverkehrsabteilung OÖ

But why are trucks taken off the road in the first place? 
Scherleitner knows the sins of the hauliers and their drivers all too well: "We catch most of them at the checkpoint in Kematen am Innbach, where we have a test pit and a brake test stand: rusted-through frames, tires worn down to the fabric or diesel particulate filters that have been cut out are common. A pipe is often inserted instead of the filter, or the filters are cut through and reinserted. This then shows up in the emissions value."

Offenders must pay a security deposit
If the offenders are foreign drivers, they usually have to pay a security deposit. The maximum amount is a hefty 10,000 euros, but a four-digit amount is also quickly reached, says Scherleitner. In the previous year, 4849 reports were written in Upper Austria due to technical defects in heavy goods vehicles and 2300 reports due to other defects such as overloading.