Following the death of 18 persons in a crash involving an articulated vehicle on the Abuja-Kaduna Highway on Sunday, the Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps, Mr Dauda Biu, has directed that vehicles conveying humans and animals together should be impounded.
Apart from those who lost their lives to the crash, 27 other passengers sustained injuries in the accident that involved 65 persons.
The crash occurred at about 5:20am when the driver of the articulated vehicle, overloaded with goods and humans and travelling at a high speed, lost control and fell into a ditch on the highway.
“To reverse the trend, all Sector Commanders are to set up joint task forces to impound trailers and trucks carrying humans and animals. The courts should prosecute the drivers,” Biu said in a statement issued on Sunday in Abuja by Deputy Corps Marshal Bisi Kazeem.
Kazeem added that Biu instructed sector commanders to set up joint task forces in collaboration with sister agencies to conduct special operations to end the practice.
Biu noted that it was necessary for agencies like the police, the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, the Army, and Vehicle Inspection Officers, among others, to collaborate and curb the menace.
He described Sunday’s accident as avoidable, while decrying the nonchalant attitude of drivers who disregard simple traffic rules.
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