Evaluating impacts of overweight in road freight transportation: A case study in Brazil with system dynamics

Abstract

Overweight vehicles in ornamental stone transportation reduce the lifespan of the pavement and increase accidents on Brazilian highways. This paper evaluates the relationship between different policies for the loading of ornamental stone vehicles and its externalities, such as the impact on costs with transportation, pavement maintenance and road accidents, using the System Dynamics (SD) method. The results confirm the advantages of reducing operational costs with the practice of overweight. However, as the overweight increases, the pavement maintenance and road accidents costs also increase. Therefore, the best vehicle loading policy depends on the relative importance of the economic and social costs involved.