Boboye Oyeyemi, corps marshal, Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, has said that all stakeholders must ensure compulsory installation of speed limiting device in their vehicles to curtail incidences of speed related crashes.
Assistant Corps Marshal Bisi Kazeem, corps public education officer, disclosed this in a statement made available in Abuja on Thursday.
Oyeyemi said that the meeting convened was the first virtual meeting with road transportation stakeholders across the country with the view of enhancing the safety of lives and property.
He said that the meeting was in pursuance to the expiration of the 2020 end of the year special patrol operations which lasted between Dec. 25, 2020 and Jan. 15.
He also said that the meeting was targeted at reviewing the impact of the exercise, identifying notable challenges and communicating areas of immediate improvement to the stakeholders.
According to him, all stakeholders must ensure compulsory installation of speed limit device to avoid fatal crashes.
He said that stakeholders must also ensure observance of precautionary guidelines for safe public transportation amidst the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic.
He however, discouraged overloading of vehicles with both passengers and goods to reduce fatalities.
The corps marshal stated that even though the corps recorded low road traffic crashes compared to the previous year, there was an observable record of increased with heavy fatalities recorded in fewer number of crashes.
He noted that most of the crashes occurred at night and in the early hours of the morning while some high fatality crashes that involved fuel-laden tankers were recorded within the period.
He added that unlatched containerised cargoes, as well as trucks carrying a combination of humans, animals and goods were also recorded within the period.
Oyeyemi listed the most prevalent causes of the crashes recorded within the period as speeding, fatigue, wrongful overtaking, break failure and lane discipline, saying that the secondary cause or resultant effect of the above causes was loss of control.
“Night travels which have cost the country many lives must be discouraged since it is prone to poor visibility, fatigue and could lead to sleeping on the wheels, and drivers must be subjected to regular visual acuity test to fish out those with defects.
“In addition, strict observance of maximum driving hours and rest period must be complied with, stating that drivers must observe 15 minutes rest after every four hours drive,” he said.
The corps marshal appreciated the efforts of the federal government towards the realisation of the safety mandate; as well as the cooperation and contributions of all road transportation stakeholders in ensuring the safety of the highways in the year 2020.
Responding to the corps marshal, Lawal Othman, national president, National Association of Road Transport Owners, NARTO, said that the association had already keyed into the installation of speed limiting device and safety valves.
Othman noted that most of their vehicles have already installed the device saying that more effort would be put in place to ensure full compliance.
Salimon Oladiti, national chairman, NUPENG-PTD, also advised state governments to create road barriers on most of the bridges in there states, as it was obtainable in Lagos and Oyo State so as to mitigate every factor that could lead to crashes.
The National President, Public Transport Owners of Nigeria Association (PTONA), Mr Isaac Uhunmwagho, spoke on the need to ensure that all vehicles assembled in Nigeria have the speed limiting device installed in them and properly calibrated before they were allowed to begin operations. – NAN
