Jide Owatunmise
The invasion and rapid spread of coronavirus pandemic in Nigeria has exposed the inadequacies of the Federal and state governments in the handling of emergencies. Both the Federal and state governments failed woefully in the “WHAT IF GAME”.
The Federal Government has been doing front and back, wrong following of developed countries in addressing the challenges when the economies are not the same and using trial by error approach to address the spread of the pandemic.
Most governors have been busy supervising the blockage of roads while there was no functional test and isolation centres in the states. These were indications that the Federal and state governments never thought of what to do in case there’s an outbreak of a disease(what if game).
While addressing the COVID-19 pandemic, the Federal and state governments should not forget the more deadly viruses that have been ravaging and will more dangerously ravage this country during and immediately after the pandemic. They are unemployment and road traffic crashes, among others. More on these on another day.
It is acclaimed that over 80 percent of road traffic crashes are attributed to human factors out of which about 70 percent are traceable to the drivers.
This means that with quality driver education and uncompromised traffic law enforcement, road traffic crashes, injuries and deaths will be significantly reduced.
However, there have been some challenges which have been making it almost impossible to achieve a significant reduction in road traffic crashes.
No matter how good the road is, it requires well trained and law-abiding drivers and riders to operate safely on them. In the same vein, no matter how new or roadworthy a vehicle is, it is the knowledge, skills and attitude of the driver that determines whether it will be a safe mode of transportation or not.
The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has the best network of roads and roadworthy vehicles. Yet, it has the highest rate of road traffic crashes in Nigeria. This further buttressed the significance of quality driver education and uncompromised traffic law enforcement.
The executive, legislative and judicial arms of government at the Federal, state and local government levels have not shown significant commitment to driver education and road safety compared to what obtains in most other countries.
Traffic law enforcement is very weak and grossly compromised by self-centred officers thereby watering down the necessity for quality driver education.
Technology, traffic regulations and personal health factors are dynamic. All drivers and the employers/managers of drivers in the public and private sectors should be mandated to undergo comprehensive refreshers training programmes in driving schools to fill their knowledge and skills gap annually and or before every renewal of their driver licence.
All traffic offenders apprehended by Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), VIOs, Police, and state traffic management agencies should be referred to driving schools for correctional training.
Driving schools should be up and doing in driver training and retraining (for individuals, government establishments and private sector organisations).
Driving schools should professionally run regular and customised training programmes for commercial drivers and riders as well.
The Driving Schooal Association of Nigeria (DSAN) should take up the responsibility of monitoring and promoting the standards of driving schools and driving school instructors in all the states in Nigeria and the FCT, in collaboration with the FRSC and relevant state government agencies.
DSAN has many qualified driving instructors and fleet assessors with many years of experience in the United Kingdom, United States of America, United Arab Emirates, Australia and Canada, among others.
DSAN and TAC have signed a Memorandun of Understanding (MoU) with the School of Transportation of the Lagos State University (LASU) to run a specialised course in Driving Instruction and Traffic Management with lecture centres in all the states and the FCT. This will, ultimately, provide a boost to quality driver education.
The FRSC is currently planning an intensive professional training programme for all driving school operators and instructors to further enhance the much desired quality driver education in all the states in Nigeria and the FCT.
All the state governments should construct standard driving range in all their local government areas to be used by the VIOs for the practical tests of driver licence applicants for a fee to be paid to the government. driving schools will also be using the driving range for training their candidates at a fee also.
This when done, will create a steady source of revenue for the state governments and also enhance quality driver education as well as reduce the rate of road traffic crashes and fatalities.
Enforcement of road traffic regulations should be intensified without compromise with violators referred to driving schools for refresher or correctional training and re-certification. This will not only increase revenue generation for the government but also enhance quality driver education.
State of the art technology should be deployed for traffic eaw Enforcement to prevent the current state of corruption of the officers on the roads.
Licence withdrawal for chronic and dangerous traffic law violators should be introduced and enforced without compromise in addition to referring them to driving schools for comprehensive correctional training.
There should be regular monitoring and auditing of the public and private sector organisations including the associations of drivers and riders to ensure compliance with the mandatory refresher training of drivers and riders in accredited driving schools.
In most of the countries with low rates of road traffic crashes, their governments do support the driving schools with easy loans, grants, and capacity building among others.
The Federal and state governments should also be doing the same to further enhance standards and quality driver education through the driving schools.
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