As part of efforts to address what looks like the growing menace of lawlessness, the Corps Marshal, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Dr. Boboye Oyeyemi read the riot act to motorists and drivers after commiserating with families and victims of a recent road crash that occurred around the Bagauda Law School, on the Kano-Zaria expressway, which claimed lives. At the occasion, he had ordered his commanding officers to clamp down on commercial vehicle operators that failed to install the speed limiting device so as to ensure the implementation of the Presidential directives on compulsory installation of speed limiting devices by commercial vehicles across board in Nigeria.
The Corps Marshal had expressed concern over the loss of precious lives, noting that reducing speed-related crashes was one of the strategic goals the Corps intended to achieve and that the decision to clamp down on commercial vehicles, which refused to comply with the policy on speed limiting device would go on. The FRSC boss added that the Corps had continually carried out the relevant directives that would protect lives on the roads. Hence, the above position of the FRSC is a pointer to what motorists are expected to do when it comes to safe driving on our roads. However, what is the experience in the various states and local councils across the nation when it comes to the maintenance of law and order on our roads? What are we doing about them? Are we on the right track? Your guess is good as mine.
In a recent discourse, the Public Education Officer of the Ogun State Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Corps (TRACE), Commander Oluwatoyin Fatoberu, also urged road users to avoid excessive speeding and abide by traffic rules and regulations in a bid to reduce road crashes to the barest minimum. Commander Fatoberu gave this admonition while charging road users to be patient and cooperate with others, saying they should not use their negligence to take other people’s lives while admonishing everyone to assist TRACE at providing logistics and other facilities for effective service delivery. She charged motorists to “Stay away from over speeding, cooperate with other road users, be patient on the road, cooperate with traffic compliance agency and value life”.
Mrs. Fatoberu added that every life was important, no matter the status, advising road users to manage the roads very well and not park their vehicles indiscriminately and be conscious of road signs. She said that human, environmental, and mechanical factors were the causes of road crashes, stressing that “Man is the controller of the vehicle, so they must have knowledge of the vehicle before taking it out. You must be mentally-alert and balanced, avoid drinking of alcohol while driving and always study the environment. Nobody is waiting for any accident to happen, but you must prepare to avoid that”. She assured that TRACE was fully prepared to keep the road safe, stressing that their officers and men were usually stationed on the major roads whenever there is high influx of vehicles, especially at festive seasons.
In the same vein, another major occurrence being experienced on our roads that is attributed to the behaviour of drivers of trailers and articulated vehicles, drew the attention of the Public Relations Officer of TRACE, Commander Babatunde Akinbiyi, who attributed tanker explosions on the roads to human errors. Commander Akinbiyi averred that safety starts with humans by checking if they are psychological-balanced and not exposing other road users to danger due to their own errors. He called on Nigerians to always be safety conscious and adhere to road rules and regulations in order to reduce crashes to the barest minimum, admitting that “The greatest challenges we have on our road is man error”. Akinbiyi said there is a lot of pressure on roads and Nigerians should always plan their journey and practice defensive techniques.
Reeling out some of the causes of tankers explosion, Commander Akinbiyi said most of the tanker drivers are not of age to pilot such heavy vehicles, but they also experience fatigue due to long-distance driving while most of the vehicles are not road worthy. Not only that, there is the overloading of vehicles and over-speeding, among others. The TRACE PRO charged tanker-owners to constantly organise seminars, sensitisation programmes, and workshops for their drivers by orientating them on proper road usage, as Commander Akinbiyi appealed to tanker-owners to replace reckless drivers with careful ones, stressing that most drivers just listen to instructions, but they do not practice them.
On the way forward, a new lease of life should be seen concerning the nation’s roads with the installation of speed limiting device, shunning excessive speeding, abiding by traffic rules and regulations, cooperating with all road users, being patient, cooperating with traffic compliance personnel, having value for life, shunning indiscriminately parking of vehicles, respecting road signs, addressing mechanical factors that fuel road crashes, understanding the state of vehicles before taking them out, being mentally-alert, avoiding the drinking of alcohol, preventing under-age driving, and engaging in regular awareness and enlightenment programmes for road users, among others.
