Despite policies initiated by the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) to ensure safety on the roads, crashes have tripled in Nigeria with high fatality rate.
The FRSC was created under decrees 45 and 35 of 1988 and 1992 and FRSC Act cap 141 Laws of the Federation. It was passed by the National Assembly as Federal Road Safety Commission (establishment) Act 2007 as a step towards addressing road crashes and provide safe motoring environment.
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In the course of implementing their statutory duties, the FRSC adopted some of these policies such as: Reflectors in the night, computerised number plates (National Vehicle Identification Scheme), Road Transport Safety Standardization Scheme, Driving School Standardisation Scheme, drivers’ licence, and speed limiting device.
The commission also enforce the use of safety equipment in the vehicles such as spare tyres, hazard sign, cutting object, fire extinguisher, torchlight, medical equipment, among others.
Officials told Daily Trust Saturday that reflectors are still being enforced on major roads in the night.
On the National Vehicle Identification Scheme, the officers say the commission is working to harmonise plate numbers nationwide for ease of tracing of stolen or missing vehicles, and to identify victims of accident.
The officer said the Driver’s Licence is being linked with NIN in a national database.
On the Driving School Standardisation Scheme, officials say every driving school is regulated by the FRSC, adding that emphasis are put on instructors’ knowledge of the Highway Code, Road Signs and other rules of driving.
Hundreds die annually in Nigeria road crashes
According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data, speed violation is a major cause of road crashes in Nigeria, especially in quarter two of 2020 with 2, 080 road crashes which resulted in the death of 855 Nigerians.
NBS said out of the total Nigerians that got killed, 788 are adults representing 92 percent of the figure while the remaining 67 are children representing 8 percent. 694 of them were male Nigerians, representing 81 percent and 161 were females representing 19 percent killed in road crashes in the quarter.
At this month’s 6th Global Road Safety Week in Nigeria with the theme: ‘Managing Speeding’, experts identified speeding as a leading risk factor for road traffic deaths and injuries. Therefore, lowering speed limit was identified as a means of reducing crash fatalities.
The FRSC alongside the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON), the National Automotive Design and Development Council of Nigeria (NADDC), and other stakeholders made speed limiting device compulsory for all vehicles nationwide, starting with commercial vehicles (buses, trailers, tankers and trucks) by 2016.
The FRSC mandates the use of speed limiters and put the rate to 90km/hr for commercial vehicles; 60km/hr for trucks; and 100km/hr for private cars. It placed a fine of N3, 000 for violation of the rule.
Motorists express mixed reactions about policy
But commercial drivers and other motorists who spoke to Daily Trust Saturday said they have not been complying fully with the policy.
Danny, a commercial vehicle driver who plies the North-South routes, said he merely uses the speed limiting device just to avoid getting into trouble with officers of the FRSC, who normally stops vehicles and check the dashboards.
“I took it upon myself, whether I have the speed limiting device or not, to make sure that I don’t exceed 100km/hr on the highway because of my personal experience. There was a time I got to 120km/hr and I tried to apply the break, I found out that the break did not respond immediately. And at another time, I was just at 100km/hr and the thing answered,” he said.
“Some of my fellow drivers say the reason why they don’t really use it is in a situation they encounter armed robbers and bandits on the highway, how would they escape? These people drive at a speed higher than 100km as they pursue you. An incident happened along the Shagamu road and those people were pursuing us in their Golf car and they gunned down one driver. The rest escaped until they got to a police checkpoint.”
He also identified another major disincentive for the use of the use of device on engine performance which could wear out the engine overtime.
Daniel Ogwu, who plies the Enugu-Abuja route, said he did not install the devise but hopes to do so soon. He said he only wants to install it not because he believes in it but to avoid FRSC checks.
A transporter on the Makurdi-Jos and North Central cities, Oche Agaba, said he has not fixed the speed limit device because he doesn’t have the funds, while expressing worry over the slow movement caused by the device.
However, Victor Omodele, who plies the North and South East route, said he learnt the hard way to install the device after experiencing a collision with a speeding trailer on the highway, which he survived with other passengers. He urged the authorities to be strict on the enforcement of the speed limit device.
Salihu Kamal, a taxi driver within the FCT, said some of the accidents on the roads are caused by reckless drivers without speed limiters in their vehicles. He charged the authorities to ensure total compliance with the policy.
Mrs Eunice Nze, who is a regular road user, said the FRSC should insist that every transporter, be it a company or a private person, installs the device in their car, and not just for tankers and transporters.
Another regular traveller, John Darlington, blamed bad roads for the incessant accidents on the roads and not necessarily the absence of speed limiting device in the car. He said a driver who suddenly meets a pothole and want to avoid it could lose control.
Most road users are disobedient to rules – FRSC official
An official of the FRSC on traffic enforcement, but pleaded anonymity, said when some motorists are booked for contravening the law, they repeat the offence.
“Some of them will even put the speed limit device and remove it later. It is exhausting because some Nigerians are very stubborn. We are enforcing the rules. Like when the directive for new number plates were made, it was to ensure that stolen vehicles can be searched on the database to ease recovery. So, we are enforcing it,” she said.
The Corps Public Education Officer, Bisi Kazeem, said the FRSC has been enforcing the policies introduced to reduce road crashes in the country.
He cited the special patrol of the Eid-El-Fitri May, 2021, which decreased road crashes by 27 percent with the arrest of 5, 511, adding that a total of 92 road crashes occurred against the 117 in the same period in 2019.
According to him, the decrease recorded in road traffic crashes is largely attributed to several coordinated factors, among which are; the establishment of station offices in almost all the 774 local government areas in Nigeria, intensified public enlightenment and sensitization campaigns held nationwide in collaboration with key stakeholders in the transportation sector and beyond, and effective patrol operations.
“The Corps is advancing steadily towards the actualisation of its corporate mandate of creating a safer motoring environment and eradicating road traffic crashes on our roads. This tempo will surely be sustained as all efforts have been adequately put in place to make the roads safer for all,” he said.
Quoting the Corps Marshal, Dr. Boboye Oyeyemi, Kazeem stated that the Corps now has a wider coverage due to the establishment of more FRSC Commands, Outposts, road side clinics and Zebra points who now feed in reports from different routes that were hitherto not thoroughly covered.
A road marshal and legal practitioner, E.M.D. Umukoro Esq identified the attitude of Nigerian motorists to “cut corners” as a major impediment to ensuring accident-free roads in the country.
