SINGAPORE — Checks on lorries used to transport workers turned up 13 offences this week, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said on Thursday (April 29).

These ranged from a failure to comply with seating space requirements to failing to provide adequate shelter for passengers, the LTA noted.  

In a Facebook post, the LTA said it regularly carried enforcement operations islandwide — including industrial areas such as Sungei Kadut, Penjuru, Tuas, and Toh Guan Road — to ensure lorries used for the purpose of transporting workers comply with safety requirements.

“We are glad to see that most lorry owners and drivers are responsible and compliant,” said the LTA.

This comes after two migrant workers died and another 15 were injured last week, following a collision between a lorry and stationary tipper truck on the Pan Island Expressway (PIE).

Another accident later that week saw 10 workers injured after a lorry overturned along Upper Bukit Timah Road.

Employers are allowed to use lorries to ferry workers to workplaces, with drivers of such lorries required to stick to the road speed limit or 60kmh, whichever is lower.

Workers on such lorries are also required to be no more than 1.1m above the carriage deck when seated.

In 2010, three workers were killed and six were hurt when the lorry they were in overturned on the PIE.

The accident triggered a review that year, which resulted in the introduction of regulations requiring such lorries to have canopies and higher side railings installed.

The most recent accidents have sparked a fresh call for the practice of carrying workers in the back of lorries to be reviewed. 

The LTA on Thursday also noted it caught a cyclist riding on the Kranji Expressway towards the Bukit Timah Expressway in the morning.

Cycling is not allowed on expressways here. CNA

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