New rules aimed at driving overloaded trucks off highways

BEIJING - China is bringing in new rules in an attempt to park the problem of overloaded vehicles damaging the country's crumbling highways and to make the roads safer, the transportation authorities said on Wednesday.

The new legislation - the Regulation on the Protection of Road Safety - makes it possible to punish drivers more severely than in the past if they are caught behind the wheel of overloaded cars or trucks.

The new rules will take effect in July, said He Jianzhong, a spokesman with the Ministry of Transport, during a press conference in Beijing.