Hungarian police are battling the long-existing phenomenon of makeshift trailers operating over the allowed weight limit, transporting used cars from Western to Eastern Europe.
In the latest such case, Hungarian motorway police detained such a contraption on an Eastern Hungarian motorway; the trailer was towed by a minivan with Romanian license plates and driven by a Romanian driver.
The caravan, which was transporting two German luxury cars, was 3,160 kilograms (almost 7,000 pounds) above the legal weight limit. The driver was fined HUF 500,000 (€1,400) and his vehicle was impounded pending further investigation.
Typically, such transport consists of used cars that are legally bought, mostly in Germany, and which are on their way to Romania and the Balkans countries, with most of the trade done by Romanian and Bulgarian persons who do this as their main occupation.
The trailers are often far above the allowed weight and length limit, posing a threat to other drivers. In most cases, these improvised trailers are towed by vehicles – in this case a minivan – whose brakes are woefully inadequate for the overall weight, and do they often do not have additional rear view mirrors, while also holding up traffic due to their low speed.
Hungary has recently stiffened penalties for these infractions, but so far that has failed to even make a dent in the traffic.
Title image: Overweight Romanian trailer detained by Hungarian police. (source: police.hu)
