The FRSC insists on October 1st deadline for Speed limit device for all commercial veicles

                                           

Nigeria - The Federal Road Safety Corps has warned commercial vehicle operators against ignoring directives to install speed limiters in their vehicles, saying the corps would not renege on its October 1 enforcement date.

The Corps Marshall, Dr. Boboye Oyeyemi, said the timely implementation would reduce the rate of carnage on the country’s roads, especially in this third quarter when road crashes are often high.

Oyeyemi stated this on Wednesday in Uyo at a public enlightenment forum for transport stakeholders.

Represented by Assistant Corps Marshall in charge of policy, research and statistics, Dr. Michael Olagunju, Oyeyemi expressed dismay over the staggering statistics of road crashes on Nigerian roads.

He revealed that in 2015 alone, over 12,077 road crashes were recorded, out of which 5,400 people, representing 68 per cent, lost their lives as a result of overspeeding alone.

Oyeyemi regretted that most of the crashes would have been avoided if appropriate safety measures were adopted by drivers.

He said the speed limiters, which would take effect from October 1, would save Nigerians the embarrassment on the highways.

“Most of the road crashes are preventable. If we are able to bring down the speed, we will be saving a lot of lives on our highways,’’ he said.

The state Commissioner of Transport, Mr. Godwin Ntukude, expressed satisfaction with the introduction of the speed-limiting device but called for a technical session with all stakeholders to enlighten them on the nitty-gritty of the policy.

He said, “There is no policy introduced by government that will not have a positive effect on lives of the people, but let us have technical session with experts to ascertain if it could be installed on second-hand vehicles.”

Earlier the command’s Public Relations Officer, Mr. Godsgift Uwem, who spoke on the importance of the device, noted that by its introduction, Nigeria would be joining countries such as Japan, Australia, Sweden and the United Kingdom that had already introduced the same.

In his welcome address, the zonal commanding officer in charge of operations, Mr. J. Aremu, called on all the stakeholders to key into the new policy with a view to reducing road crashes on the highways.