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Tag: FRSC

Why Frsc and road safety are failing in Nigeria

Considering the fact that Nigeria is among the 10 countries with the highest rate of road accidents and fatalities in the world (number two among 193 countries) coupled with the rate at which lives and properties are wasting away on Nigerian roads, there is a need to urgently examine where we got it wrong and take proactive steps to get it right and place Nigeria as one of the 10 Countries with the safest roads worldwide.

Before listing my 23 workable recommendations, I want to summarise the background information and problem analysis as guides to the suggested antidotes.

The Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) was established in 1988 (27 years ago) as the lead Agency for Road Safety in Nigeria by Decree No 45.

FRSC later subjected the Decree to amendments (1992,2004,2007 and 2012) thereby accumulating many more functions, a case which I usually refer to as overloading of functions (biting more than it can chew or swallow) thereby breeding inefficiency and ineffectiveness in many ramifications to the extent that several misleading errors and costly omissions were passed and published in the current Nigerian Highway Code without being noticed nor promptly corrected by the Corps. Three years after sending a letter to FRSC authorities, pointing out the obvious errors and omissions, more copies are still being produced without effecting the correction of the embarrassing portions which they promised to correct in their responses to my letters. Several of the FRSC’s statutory functions have either been left undone or inadequately done thereby keeping the rate of road accidents and fatalities high in Nigeria as at today.

FRSC also published codes for verifying genuine Driver licence but have turned to money swallowers. If you input the code to know if the licence you are holding is genuine, the Network provider will deduct N50 from your account but no result will follow and the money will not be refunded. Another fraud or prank on innocent citizens? I have tested it and FRSC has not made any public pronouncement to stop people from using the non-functional code.

The errors in the offences and penalties sheet of FRSC also give room to fraud, bribery and corruption on the part of FRSC officers and motorists, yet the loopholes have not yet been removed from the sheet three years after the FRSC Authorities assured me that they will effect the corrections in response to my letter to the immediate past Corps Marshal (Mr Osita Chidoka).

Within a span of six years, I have written over 15 letters to the authorities of FRSC and also had over 10 personal discussions with different cadres of officers of the Corps, offering various observations and advice but over the years, I have discovered that FRSCAuthorities detests consultations and resists advice thereby exhibiting the know-it-all attitude, The non-reception to external ideas and comments is part of the contributing factors to the Corps’ performance and the persistently high rate of road accidents and fatalities in Nigeria,

The N1.5billion (one billion, five hundred million naira) grant given to FRSC by the World Bank about two years ago was sufficient to make a significant impact in the reduction of road accidents and fatalities in Nigeria.

August 10, 2015
14 die in road accident

Fourteen persons at the weekend died in a ghastly road accident at Amasiri Secondary School junction of the Afikpo-Okigwe federal roadin Ebonyi state.

The accident which occurred around midnight involved an articulated vehicle and a 14-seater bus conveying members of the Assemblies of God’s Church, Isu in Ohaoazara Local Government Area from a burial.

Mr Roland Ogbuke, Afikpo Unit Commander of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) confirmed the incident to our reporter.

He said: “We received a distress call early morning of the accident, and I mobilized my rescue officers immediately to the scene of the carnage.

“Sources informed us that the articulated vehicle-driver was trying to dodge a heap of sand on the road but hit the oncoming bus which was on a convoy of vehicles.

“The articulated vehicle then pushed the bus to a tree some metres away from the road and crushed it on the tree, decapitating the bus in the process and mangling the passengers’ bodies.

“We have to mobilise a nearby quarry company which used its heavy duty machine to cut the tree and decapitated parts of the bus, in order to evacuate the mangled bodies of the passengers,” he said.

Ogbuke remarked that the crushed passengers were mostly women, as their relatives and church- members who were inside other vehicles, cooperated with his officers in the evacuation process.

“The police in particular, assisted the FRSC in evacuating the bodies to the Mater Misericordae hospital Afikpo because our vehicle developed a serious fault on the way.

“We are thereby urging citizens of the state whose relatives failed to return from a journey on Saturday, to visit the hospital to identify corpses of the relatives,” he said.

He noted that the FRSC with the aid of other security agencies and the quarry company, conducted a ‘mop-up’ of the accident scene to ensure free flow of traffic along the road.

“We urge the public to imbibe road safety practices by shunning night journeys, over speeding among other practices that negate road safety regulations,” he said.

Mrs Regina Ukpa, a resident of the area said that the incident has instilled fear inside the people due to the high rate of vehicular movements along the road.

“I call on relevant authorities to expedite action on reconstruction works on roads in the area and across the state, to save innocent lives lost in such avoidable carnages,” she said.

August 9, 2015
15 die in Delta auto crash

No fewer than 15 persons died in Thursday auto crashed, that occurred at Ubulu Okiti junction in Aniocha South Local Government Area of Delta, an official of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) has said.

Mr Rindom Kumven, Delta Sector Commander of FRSC, disclosed this on Saturday in Asaba in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

He said that a bus, marked DT 266 B28, enroute Asaba-Abraka, was trying to avoid a head on collision with an articulated vehicle when the accident occurred.

The sector commander said that the articulated vehicle was also trying to tow a broken down truck loaded with iron rods at the time of the incident.

He said that the driver of the bus, on sighting the barrier ahead, attempted to swerve to the other side of the road, but lost control in the process, as he ran into the articulated vehicle.

Kumven said that 14 persons died on the spot, while the FRSC officials rescued two others and took them to Mother and Child Hospital at Issele-Uku.

The sector commander, however, said that one of them later died and the other had since been discharged.

August 8, 2015
Enforcement of speed limiters begins next month, says FRSC

If the words of the Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Boboye Oyeyemi, are anything to go by, the enforcement of speed limiters in vehicles will begin next month.

By the regulation, commercial vehicle operators must ensure that any vehicle plying the nation’s highways is fitted with the speed limiting device.

Oyeyemi was speaking yesterday while opening the maiden edition of the annual recertification and retraining programme organised for tanker/trailer drivers at Orile Iganmu, Lagos.

The Corps Marshal said: “Let me restate that the enforcement of the regulation would be vigorous, total and non-compromising. It is our belief that with the use of speed limiting device, cases of speed related crashes in the country would be reduced drastically.”

August 6, 2015
87 killed in Bauchi accident, says FRSC

•377 injured

Eighty-seven people died, while 377 were injured between January and June in Bauchi State, the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has said.

A copy of the FRSC road crash report for the period obtained by The Nation in Bauchi showed that there were 94 road crashes across the 20 local governments, involving 719 people.

These included 67 children, with seven of them killed. Thirty-three were injured.

The report showed that 154 vehicles were involved in the accidents.

It said the highest number of deaths was recorded in January, with 35 people killed and 61 injured in 13 accidents involving 130 people.

June had the second highest number of casualties, with 13 killed and 59 injured in 18 accidents involving 141 people.

The report showed that May had the least number of casualties, with seven people killed and 57 injured in 13 accidents involving 94 people.

Addressing reporters in his office in Bauchi, the Sector Commander, Ibrahim Abubakar, said the corps had made efforts to reduce accidents.

He said crashes had reduced, except on Bauchi-Gombe and Bauchi-Jos roads. His words: “Road crashes in Bauchi have been on the low side, except on Bauchi-Gombe and Bauchi-Jos roads. These are places with almost daily crashes.

“The culprits are the Opel Vectra drivers. They are responsible for almost all the head-on collision on these high ways.

“Next to them are the Hummer bus drivers. I don’t know what is always the problem, but I think it is mostly drivers’ loss of control.”

Abubakar said the FRSC had offices in only 234 of the 744 councils in the country.

He urged the Federal Government to equip the FRSC with more workers and logistics to ensure safety on roads.

The sector commander said the five area commands had two functional operational vehicles each, adding that more were needed.

August 6, 2015
Edo, FRSC to check traffic offenders at psychiatric hospital

The Edo State Government, in conjunction with the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), has said motorists who violate traffic laws will be tested at the psychiatric hospital to ascertain their mental balance.

The Director of Operations of Edo State Inter-ministerial Task Force, Comrade Mukhtar Yusuf-Osagie, broke the news yesterday in Benin, the state capital.

He said an arrangement was in place to begin a free flow of traffic across the state.

The task force chief said monitoring gadgets would be provided for effective monitoring of vehicles, adding that the FRSC would prosecute traffic offenders at mobile courts.

Yusuf-Osagie said: “Every busy area has monitoring cameras. Our men too are equipped with monitoring cameras. Some have camera phones and ipads so that no offender will be punished unjustly.”

The task force chief, who is also Edo State Chairman of the Committee on Environment, said in the last one month, 30 persons were arrested and 24 convicted for various offences bordering on environmental, street trading and illegal dumping of refuse.

August 5, 2015
FRSC tries 209 drivers for ‘indiscipline’

•453 heavy duty vehicles arrested

No fewer than 453 heavy duty vehicles were impounded and 209 drivers tried for road indiscipline by the Federal Road Safety Corps during a week long exercise tagged: Operation Scorpion.

The exercise which ended last Friday, was co-ordinated by the Lagos, Ogun and Oyo states Command.

FRSC’s chief Boboye Oyeyemi said Operation Scorpion focused on the eradication or reduction of accidents caused by heavy duty vehicles.

Offences for which the drivers were tried ranged from driving with worn-out tyres, fake drivers’ licence, driving unlatched/unhooked container trucks, lane indiscipline, rickety vehicles and overloading.

Oyeyemi said the Corps was implementing the resolution jointly agreed on by stakeholders in the transportation industry.

According to him, it is one of the major strategies aimed at ensuring full compliance with road rules and regulations to prevent crashes.

The Corps, he said, has been in consultation with various unions leaders on the need for their members to comply with traffic rules to make the roads crash-free.

“We have being engaging all haulage operators at the National summit held in Abuja. We had a four-page resolution to implement to end the indiscipline, one of which is the scorpion’s operation which is to checkmate the impunity of drivers driving unlatched or unsecured trucks on the road, he said.

He added: “The road regulations are very clear and the FRSC is not reinventing the wheel or bringing in a new law.

“Last week, the Corps promised that we are relocating to Lagos to begin the enforcement on the Lagos-Ibadan corridor, which is a major traffic hub for the heavy duty vehicles.

“With the cooperation of stakeholders, the Corps should at the end of the year record a change in the attitude and approach of vehicle owners and their drivers on the road.”

Boboye said tankers, trucks/trailers must attain a minimum road worthy standard, while the drivers are expected to be safety conscious and possess valid licence before embarking on any journey.

According to him, the Corps is not after arrest and prosecution or fine but to ensure that vehicle owners and drivers correct the mistakes that usually lead to crashes on the roads. He added that the new FRSC’s philosophy is to ensure moving trucks/trailers with fractures are arrested and prosecuted. The Corps insists that proper maintenance must be done before the vehicle is released to enable the driver ‘sin no more’.

He said the FRSC has partnered with the Directorate of Security Services (DSS) and Police, to ensure the full investigation of anyone caught with fake drivers’ licence and to ensure all rickety trucks/trailers are evacuated from the road.

Boboye, appealed to stakeholders, union leaders to continue to cooperate with the Corps to enable it tackle road indiscipline.

He urged vehicle owners and drivers to install speed limiter in their vehicles, saying no one would be spared when the enforcement begins on September 1.

Boboye pledged to increase the minimum fine of infractions by hydraulic vehicles drivers to N50,000 instead of N5,000 to serve as deterrent to others.

He appealed to media practitioners to continue to assist the Corps in broadcasting the road safety proclamation, saying the special operation will be a continuous exercise.

Flagging off the exercise earlier, the Lagos and Ogun States Zonal Commander, Assistant Corps Marshal Nseobong Charles Akpabio, said the special operation was meant to make the highways safe for all road users and aimed at ensuring that operators of the heavy duty vehicles abide by traffic rules and regulations to prevent fatal accidents.

He said the special operation was organised following the incessant crashes of the articulated trucks/trailers.

According to Akpabio, the Corps would be deploying all its human and material resources to ensure compliance to traffic rules by the “kill and go” drivers.

He noted that the bad habit of the hydraulic vehicles’ drivers on the road is becoming unbearable and the recent pain and suffering of some Nigerians as a result of the falling tankers laden with fuel and unlatched containers.

Akpabio said to achieve the goals of the operation, all functional patrol, rescue and recovery vehicles in all the units, sectors and zonal commands have been mobilised and deployed.

He added that the operation which is going on simultaneously in six commands in Lagos, five in Ogun and five in Oyo is complemented with mobile courts constituted by the concerned states’ judiciary at strategic points on the Lagos-Ibadan corridor.

He urged the drivers to always drive on the lane prescribed by the traffic law. “It is not a good driving habit to drive in the middle of the speed lane. The right hand lane, Akpabio said, is meant for overtaking; last one on the right is the service lane. Therefore, it is advisable for drivers to drive fast when overtaking, while the left lane is for speeding vehicles,” he added.

Akpabio warned drivers against patronising touts or second party in the procurement of driver’s licence. “Whoever gives money to individuals to obtain driver’s licence will end up getting a fake,” he said.

According to him, the Corps is set to open drivers’ licence centres at the fuel depots in Lagos, Suleja, Kaduna, Warri and Port Harcourt, to enable the drivers procure their original drivers’ licence at the normal rate of N6,350 only.

Akpabio thanked the law enforcement agencies, such as DSS, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and other stakeholders in road safety matters, saying their collaboration with the Corps will restore orderliness in trailers and trucks operations on the roads.

The national Chairman of the Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO), Chief Remi Ogungbemi, pledged the owners and drivers’ loyalty to the corps, saying AMATO will always comply with traffic rules.

He urged the government to repair bad roads, saying the deplorable conditions of the roads are negatively affecting the capacity of vehicle owners to repair and maintain their vehicles.

He also urged the government to ensure that all routes in which fake vehicle parts are imported into the country are blocked.

He said: “In as much as we are willing to work with the FRSC to ensure safety, I am using this medium to appeal to the various agencies that are in charge of the road maintenance to help the masses repair all the bad roads.

“The deplorable conditions of the road are some of the major reasons why we see containers falling here and there, so let the agencies in charge of the road do their best in repairing them.”

August 4, 2015
537 truck drivers prosecuted for recklessness, says FRSC

In line with its drive to instill caution among highway drivers, the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) yesterday said 537 heavy duty vehicle drivers have been arrested and prosecuted for reckless driving.

The traffic offenders who comprise tanker and trailer drivers were said to have been nabbed along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway between July 27 and 31, in the course of a special patrol code named “Operation Scorpion”.

‎Reviewing the operation, FRSC Zonal Commander, Assistant Corps Marshal Nseobong Akpabio said the exercise spanned across 139 kilometres, the patrol covered Ojota-Ikorodu road interchange and continued through Iwo Road in Ibadan.

‎He said the operation, which was the first phase of the exercise, was designed to focus on heavy duty vehicle drivers because their driving habit was worrisome.

“The recent death, pain and suffering brought on Nigerians resulting from havocs caused by falling tankers laden with fuel and unsecured container carrying trucks have become an embarrassment to the nation, hence the need to address it squarely.

“So 537 drivers were apprehended based on the designed objectives of ‘Operation Scorpion’ Special patrol which was to optimally deploy the human and material resources available to the corps to ensure compliance to traffic rules.

“These drivers who have been dubbed by many Nigerians as “killers on the way” were all prosecuted at various mobile courts in Lagos, Ogun and Oyo States.

“They were arrested for violation of various traffic offences such as trucks moving with unsecured containers, lane indiscipline, rickety vehicles, over loading, driving with worn out tyres and driver’s license violation.

“Personnel of the Corps were drawn from all FRSC formations along the corridor from Lagos Sector command headquarters to Ojota Unit Command, Lagos; Mowe, Sagamu, Ogere and Ogunmakin Unit Commands all in Ogun State and finally FRSC operatives from Oyo State coordinated by the Sector Commander Oyo with operation base on Oluyoye Unit Command.

“The Corps Marshal and Chief Executive Boboye Oyeyemi who led the National Headquarters team also participated in the exercise from Lagos to Ibadan,” said Akpabio.

Continuing, Akpabio said the operation would be extended to other routes across the country in order to complement the gains recorded, so as to attain the United Nations’ Decade of Action for Road Safety principle 2011 – 2020 in reduction of road transportation crashes

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August 3, 2015
Photo: FRSC’s free medical check for drivers in Benin

FRSC’S FREE MEDICAL CHECKS AND PHYSICAL EXAMINATION FOR DRIVERS OF ARTICULATED VEHICLES AND TRUCKS AS PART OF ACTIVITIES TO MARK THE FEDERAL ROAD SAFETY CORPS (FRSC) “OPERATION SCORPION” IN BENIN ON MONDAY

August 3, 2015
FRSC pegs age of trailer drivers at 26

NEW measures to check road accidents have been announced. The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) said: “Any underage driver caught driving on the highway would be prosecuted; the vehicle owner will also be prosecuted and the vehicle will be impounded.

The Oshodi Unit Commander of the Corps, Mr Eko Taiwo, said at the weekend in his office, that it was all part of the resolutions at a stakeholders’ meeting convened by the Commission to find solutions to the worrisome rate of accidents involving heavy duty vehicles.

He said the age of driver of heavy duty vehicle drivers has been pegged at 26. The driver must possess a valid drivers’ licence.

Taiwo said underage drivers with poor and inadequate driving knowledge constitute a major cause of crashes on the road.

No vehicle owner, according to him, should permit any underage driver to drive most especially, articulated vehicles, otherwise known as trailers, and other heavy duty vehicles.

The Corps, according to Taiwo, will no longer tolerate trucks/trailers drivers driving under duress. “Each trailer/truck embarking on a long journey is expected to be accompanied by two drivers, to avoid abnormal driving hours that could stress the driver,” he said.

He appealed to trucks/trailers’ owners to ensure that retro-reflective tape is properly pasted on their vehicles to serve as cautionary sign to other road users, while speed limiter is also expected of all trucks/trailers and tankers.

Taiwo urged the transport unions to ensure full monitoring of their members’ activities to enable them checkmate reckless driving habits.

Drivers are also advised to use vehicle warmers during cold weather to help moisturise the vehicle and ensure that its headlights are on when raining and experiencing poor visibility.

He urged all drivers to maintain minimum speed during wet season, ensure that they use good tyres, wipers, windscreen, brakes, lights and pointers, adding that they must ensure that other parts of their vehicles are functioning well before embarking on any journey when raining.

Drivers, he said, should avoid hazard parking, alcoholism and exercise cautions in case of any break down of their vehicles to avoid crashes. “Compliance with passengers manifest on inter-city trips if any crashes is highly essential,” Taiwo said.

Meanwhile, the Corps Mainland Unit Commander, Mr Olu Afolabi, urged drivers to be guided by the rules guiding driving, especially during wet season.

Afolabi, who spoke at a public enlightenment/sensitisation programme organised for road users at Yaba Motor Park, Lagos, said driving at night is more dangerous than day, especially at rainy season, with bad roads, poor visibility and lack of appropriate warning signs.

He said: “Rain reduces visibility and traction as the road becomes wet and slippery. It is, therefore, advisable that stopping distance may be four or more times while driving on wet roads than dry ones.

The FRSC boss advised drivers to always reduce speed to avoid accident.

He urged them to always ensure that they lower the beam of the headlamps for proper visibility of the coming vehicle and those in their front. According to him, full beam should be used only when it is safe to do so, especially when approaching a vehicle.

Drivers, according to Afolabi, should drive following the tracks of other vehicles ahead and avoid looking directly into the headlamp of oncoming vehicles. He also urged them to properly adjust and focus their headlamps, advising them to always slow down when facing the glare from oncoming vehicles’ headlights and keep their vehicles windscreen clean.

To Afolabi, night driving for drivers is not for over speeding, but the time to be more careful, knowing that one is driving not only against the weather, but against poor road conditions and other impediments, including stationary vehicles.

He, therefore, cautioned motorists to the safety guidelines and assist in creating a safety environment for other road users.

He urged road users to always be patient and obey traffic lights and avoid driving against the traffic.

July 28, 2015