9,389 vehicles impounded in 8 months in Abuja

The Directorate of Road Traffic Services (DRTS), Federal Capital Territory (FCT), has said it impounded 9,389 vehicles for various traffic offences in the last eight months.

The Head, Public Relations and Enlightenment of the service, Mr Kalu Emetu, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Abuja.

Emetu said whenever such vehicles were impounded, the offending drivers were usually sent to the directorate’s model drivers’ institute in Lugbe for correction.

This, he said, usually availed the offenders, especially those who did not go through any driving school or institute, the opportunity to know the best way to drive in the territory.

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“Also, apart from paying fines which is a revenue generation to the government, they are made not to have control of the vehicles until they fulfil the stipulated conditions.

“And oftentimes, they are subjected to psychometric tests, and in a worst scenario, they are made to even go for psychoanalysis.

“This is to prove whether or not the driver is still fit to be on the road,” he said.

Emetu said the officers of the directorate might even be stricter by outrightly withdrawing the licence of a driver who has proven to be a danger to other road users.

According to him, this is usually the case when the driver had been subjected to all the necessary tests and found to be on the wrong side.

He said all these efforts were geared towards ensuring that carnages on FCT roads were reduced to the barest minimum.

On the problem posed by rickety vehicles, he said the DRTS had subjected a total of 19,929 vehicles to testing.

He said that was in its effort to reduce the number of vehicles that are not roadworthy in the FCT.

He said out of the 19,929 cases, 9,234 passed the roadworthy test, representing about 47 per cent, while 10,792 were sent back for further maintenance services.

“All these exercises took place between January and August and represent a remarkable improvement compared to what it used to be. 

“The reason for this improvement is the strategic increase in enforcement activities which has made more vehicle owners to patronise the inspection centres,” he said.

He said the inspection centres were located in different parts of the city for easy access by drivers, adding that roadworthy vehicles go a long way to reducing road crashes. (NAN)