Practice of Using Weigh-in-Motion Technology for Truck Weight Regulation in China

Trucks exceeding the legal axle and gross vehicle weight limits can bring severe damage to the infrastructure and increase the risk of traffic accidents. It is therefore important to ensure freight carriers comply with the weight regulations. Weigh-in-Motion (WIM) has been introduced into China for several years. It has been primarily used for improving the operational efficiency of highway toll facilities and for better truck weight enforcement. This paper is intended to provide a comprehensive review of how the WIM technology has been used in a variety of ways to improve highway traffic operations in China. Effectiveness and differences between toll-by-weight and weight enforcement in China are discussed. The logical mechanism of how to integrate these two truck weight regulation methods is given. Finally, the perspectives on the upgrade of WIM on a toll highway, and the emerging WIM technologies for ETC are briefly presented.