It was the 10th joint operation by the Traffic Police, Land Transport Authority (LTA) and Jurong Inspection Centre held since May to clamp down on errant drivers of heavy vehicles, whose numbers have been rising.

Drivers who got pulled over yesterday received warnings or summonses on the spot.

One of the luckier ones was a cement-mixer driver who wanted to be known only as Mr Lew. He was stopped at a roadblock in Tampines Link, a popular road that heavy vehicles ply daily.

An LTA officer who inspected his cement mixer found its brake lights to be faulty and the licence plates covered in mud.

'I'll fix it now, I'll fix it now,' he said repeatedly in Malay before being let off with a warning.

He immediately got down to fixing the problem - replacing the brake light bulbs and scrubbing down his licence plates with water - in a nearby heavy vehicle wash.

The 54-year-old driver, who has more than 20 years of experience driving heavy vehicles, said: 'Luckily they didn't issue me with a summons.'

Traffic Police senior staff sergeant Mohd Fadzil, 34, told The Straits Times: 'Drivers usually say they didn't know when we catch them for not displaying their speed-limiter labels or for not carrying a breakdown sign with them.

'But those caught for speeding usually don't say much because we clock speeds with our laser speed guns. They'll just ask for another chance.'

Speed limits for heavy vehicles vary between 40kmh and 60kmh.

In the 10 operations mounted from May, 22 heavy vehicle drivers were caught speeding while 66 summonses were issued for offences involving the speed limiter, a device which prevents the vehicle from travelling beyond its speed limit.

A further 161 summonses were issued for other violations.

In all, 1,397 heavy vehicle drivers were nabbed in the first half of this year for flouting road rules. The figure was 1,160 for the whole of last year.

Oil reservoir analyst Tuang Kwong Feng, 44, said that although the clampdown was a step in the right direction, more needs to be done to curb speeding. 'Heavy vehicle drivers earn money from the number of trips they make, so they often drive recklessly,' he said.

Educational posters were also handed out to drivers and many were advised on road safety rules.

Roving teams of Traffic Police officers on motorcycles and patrol cars also conducted checks in the vicinity.

Last Tuesday, a National University of Singapore professor was killed after being hit by a heavy vehicle at the junction of Commonwealth Avenue West and Clementi Road.

sujint@sph.com.sg