The Corps Marshal of Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Dr Boboye Oyeyemi has convened the first virtual meeting with road transportation stakeholders across Nigeria, in a bid to review the impact of the 2020 end-of-the-year patrol.
The virtual meeting is also to identify notable challenges and communicate with the stakeholders on the areas that need improvement.
According to the Corps Public Education Officer, Bisi Kazeem, the meeting followed the expiration of the special patrol operations which lasted between December 25, 2020 and January 15, 2021, in order to enhance the safety of lives and property on roads.
Kazeem said that during the meeting, which was coordinated from the national headquarters of the FRSC, 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 to ensure safety of the highways in 2020.
While analysing the one month special patrol, the Corps Marshal remarked that though the Corps recorded low road traffic crashes, compared with those of the previous year, there was a record of increased fatalities, with heavy ones recorded in fewer number of crashes.
He noted that most of the crashes occurred at night and in the early hours of the day, while some high fatality crashes that involved explosions of fuel-laden tankers and unlatched containerised cargoes, as well as trucks carrying a combination of humans, animals and goods, were recorded within the period.
Oyeyemi listed the most prevalent causes of the crashes recorded within the period as high speed, fatigue, wrongful overtaking, brake failure and lane indiscipline.
According to him, the secondary cause and resultant effect of the above causes were usually loss of control.
“As a result of the review, all stakeholders must ensure compulsory installation of speed limiting device in their vehicles, to curtail incidences of speed-related crashes, compulsory observance of precautionary guidelines for safe public transportation amidst the second wave of COVID-19 and discouragement of overloading of vehicles with passengers and goods, to reduce fatalities,” Oyeyemi was quoted to have said.
“Accordingly, night travels which have cost the country many lives, must be discouraged, since it is prone to poor visibility and fatigue, and could lead to sleeping on the wheels,
“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, as drivers must observe 15 minutes rest after every four-hour drive,” he stated further.
In his response, the National President, National Association of Road Transport Owners, Alhaji Lawal Yusuf Othman, said that NARTO had accepted the installation of speed limiting device (SLD) and safety valves, as most of their vehicles had the device already installed.
On his part, the National Chairman, NUPENG-PTD, Otunba Salimon Oladit also advised State Governments to create road barriers on most of the bridges in their states, as obtainable in Lagos and Oyo States, so as to mitigate every factor that could lead to crashes.
Other attendees who spoke included the National President, Public Transport Owners of Nigeria Association (PTONA), Mr Isaac Uhunmwagho; representatives of Peace Mass Transit, ABC transport and NURTW.
