The Federal Road Safety Commission (FRCS) has said the enforcement of speed limiter installation will commence on April 1, next year. It said advisory enforcement is slated to begin from January 1 to end of March.
It said the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) and other relevant agencies have resolved to work together from next year to reduce accidents on the roads from the high figures recorded last year.
To this end, the Corps said collaboration with SON and other stakeholders to introduce speed limiters in vehicles plying the nation’s roads has been initiated.
Speaking at Itam Central Motor Park, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State capital during the Akwa Ibom FRSC mega rally road safety campaign, Corps Marshal and Chief Executive FRSC, Mr. Boboye Oyemi represented by Deputy Corps Marshal DCM Adei Abu said road safety has become a huge multi-sectoral issue.
On why the rally is very important, the FRSC boss said Nigeria accounts for the largest road network in West Africa and the second largest south of the Sahara, adding that, therefore, all hands should be on deck to confront road mishaps.
Oyeyemi noted that three per cent of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is lost yearly to road traffic crashes. “In 2014 alone, Nigeria lost N1.7 trillion, an equivalent of $10 billion to road traffic crashes. This is simply huge and unacceptable for a country where poverty incidence is still high,” he said.
Between 1960 and the third quarter of this year, Nigeria has recorded 344,367 road accident related deaths with most of the dead being within the productive age. The Akwa Ibom rally is therefore one of the means aimed at reversing the trend, Oyeyemi said adding that the efforts of the Corps last year resulted in the reduction of road mishaps by 42 per cent, reducing the total from 760 road crashes in 2013 to 439 last year.
He said the efforts of the Corps recorded 49 per cent reduction in deaths from road crashes where 257 deaths were recorded last year compared to 504 in 2013.
He said the Corps Headquarters 2015 ‘Ember month’ special patrol with the theme: Driving Safely into 2016, is designed to consolidate on the success recorded last year.
He assures Nigerians that the Corps has put strategies in place to ensure that travelers travel in safety, in comfort, unhindered and to ensure no one sleeps on the road or marks the festivities on the road as recovery vehicles to remove obstructions that may hinder free flow of traffic have been mobilised.
The Akwa Ibom State Governor, Mr Udom Emmanuel, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of transport, Mr Effiong Abia, urged the people to imbibe safe driving culture as advocated the FRSC. He noted the good road infrastructure across the state will further assist in curbing road crashes.
Governor Emmanuel noted that efforts by FRSC in the state is seen in the low road crashes recorded in the state, noting that this year’s theme will even do more for the people to have attitudinal change in the state and the nation at large.
