New traffic law stirs apprehension in Kaduna

Disobedience of traffic regulations by motorists and general road users is very prevalent in Kaduna State and this has caused several accidents. Motorists do not obey traffic lights and traffic warders, lanes are not orderly maintained, roundabout rules and other highway codes are ignored. Besides, the attitude and temperament of Kaduna road users has been increasingly harsh, while drivers indulge in anti-social practices like drunk-driving and smoking while driving, among other mannerisms contrary to driving rules.
Consequent upon this, Governor Nasir el-Rufa’i has signed into law the traffic related offences and penalties bill recently passed by the state assembly to establish the Kaduna State Traffic Enforcement Agency (KASTELEA).
In view of the law, state government in March recruited about 2,550 people to work in the new agency. Since their recruitment and training, news started making the rounds about the strictness and responsibilities of KASTELEA which has been seen as a declaration of war against indiscipline motorists and road users, the category in which majority of the people in Kaduna belong.
Speaking during one of the supervision of the training of the staff in Kaduna, KASTELEA General Manager, Colonel Abdullahi Zubairu Ahmed (rtd), said the agency was created to bring about sanity among road users. He pointed out that the agency is empowered by law to control and regulate traffic around Kaduna metropolis and other towns in the state.
“This is the first kind of employment of about 2,550 people that was conducted without any rancour. By the time we are done with the training of the newly recruited personnel, we will bring about a better condition of living in the state. Besides creating employment, the agency will help in generating revenue for the state and whoever is caught violating traffic regulation would be made to pay a token to the state,” Ahmed said.
The chairman of KASTELEA board of trustees of, Colonel Moses Zamani (rtd), said people drive in the state without obeying traffic laws hence the main aim of the agency is to bring sanity to road traffic and bring about discipline to motorists.
He stated that once the agency begins operation, people selling and buying by the roadside would be cleared to allow motorists use the road freely.
A copy of the law obtained Daily Trust shows that the document is exhaustive and each violation carries a penalty. Each offence has a code, a fine and an additional penalty. The fine ranges from N1, 000 to N200, 000, depending on the offence.
For instance, the driver of a commercial vehicle without a dust bin and throwing of refuse from a moving vehicle attracts a fine of N1,000. Riding motorcycle/tricycle without functional lamps is N3, 000; driving private or commercial vehicle without functional lamps is N5, 000; driving trailers/tankers and trucks without functional lamps is N20,000, riding motorcycle without crash helmet or riding permit is N2,000; driving under the influence of alcohol/drugs and smoking while driving is N10,000.
Other offences and penalties are: exceeding prescribed speed limit, N5,000; driving with fake number plates, N20, 000;  towing a trailer/tanker that is loaded attracts N100,000 and an empty one, N50,000 as well as towing tippers/lorries and high capacity buses, while bullion van driving in a direction prohibited by the road traffic law attracts N200,000 fine, among other.
By and large, the law contains 61 violations and the penalties, caterogised into the following groups: licence condition for vehicles, vehicle defect, alcohol and drug use/smoking, motorcycle riders, speed violation, miscellaneous traffic fines, storage and custody charges.
Meanwhile, the new traffic law which is expected to take effect from next week is already stirring apprehension among many Kaduna motorists and road users.
A driver, Salisu Ibrahim, said the law may be necessary but fears that they could be abused. “When I saw the law I was a little bit afraid because almost all the laws there are common things that are daily violated by most motorists in the state. Worse still, some motorists are not even aware that some of the things are even offences and the awareness by the government is not sufficient,” he told Daily Trust.
“Believe you me, all Kaduna motorists, without exception, will be guilty of one offence or the other in the early stages of implementing this law. So many people whom I have interacted with have been expressing fear about the commencement of the execution of the law. But as it were, we are braced up for the worst,” he said.
A female motorist, Tessy Aboyi, said the rules were many and stringent and that if the government strictly enforces them then many people would be in trouble.
She said the law has already sent fears down her spine even though she has not really seen it. She said it was not that she was an offender, but that one could make a mistake at any time and the penalty for such mistake is unforgivable fine and further punishment.
Another female motorist, who declined to be named, said she was already afraid to talk on the law, pointing out that talking on the matter to a pressman could also constitute a traffic offence which could also attract a fine; and zoomed off soon after.
A private car owner, Monday Gbenga, said some items in the law were too extreme and unnecessary, adding that the law is aimed more at raising revenue for the state government than a sincere attempt to instill discipline among road users.
Gbenga said to him, it was because the government surely knows that there is no way all the laws can be kept by road users that was why it crafted them to generate money to the detriment of ignorant road users.
He said the state government’s refusal to create intensive widespread awareness on the law was indicative of the fact that it was targeting the revenue it would make from defaulters and not to bring sanity.
All the road marshals and traffic warders approached by our correspondent refused to speak on the matter, saying that they have no authorisation to speak and that they could not comment on it until the law was being implemented.
When contacted, the Kaduna State chairman of National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) 313, Alhassan Haruna, said they were yet to see the new traffic rules to know what they entail.
He said the state assembly invited the union during a public hearing on the bill and they presented their own case. He said the union made some observations and suggested some amendments to the bill/law and the lawmakers agreed, but since then they were yet to see the approved law and no one has told them anything about it.
Since the union was yet to see the law, Haruna added, they cannot offer any official or unofficial statement about it.