Get overweight killers off the blacktop

A COMPREHENSIVE INVESTIGATION into the collapse of a highway overpass in Wuxi, East China's Jiangsu province, has begun, local authorities said on Saturday. The collapse of the overpass, which happened at around 6:10 pm on Thursday, crushed three cars, killing three and injuring two others. China Daily writer Li Yang comments:

A preliminary investigation indicates two heavy-duty trucks crawling in the same lane on the overpass, which were carrying about 300 tons of rolled steel in total, about six times the upper limit of their combined carrying capacity, were the direct cause of the accident.

About 60 percent of serious traffic accidents in China are caused by overloading, and these accidents invariably have a high death rate.