The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in Ogun on Wednesday said that it had been arresting no fewer than 100 speed limiter device offenders daily since Feb. 1.
The FRSC state Sector Commander, Mr Clement Oladele, told newsmen this on the sideline of the 10th anniversary of an NGO, Temidayo Ogan Child Safety and Support (TOCSS) Foundation, in Lagos.
Oladele said the speed-limiter enforcement was similar to the enforcement of the use of seat-belts by drivers which was introduced 10 years ago and still effective.
He said that the speed limiter enforcement was still on course.
According to him, what is causing misconception regarding the enforcement is the way people view the speed limiter.
“Since February 1, 2017, the Federal Government said that it had become an offense for any vehicle not to have a speed limiter installed in his or her vehicle.
“Though, it is an offense for all vehicles that do not have it installed in theirs, private or commercial, but for us, we are starting with the commercial vehicles.
“For us, we view not installing the device in every commercial vehicle like any other offense; if we don’t catch you today, we will catch you tomorrow.
“You may not wear your seat-belt today and go free, but we will still apprehend you one day and we have been doing it for close to 10 years now.
“We apprehended an average of 100 offenders every day in Ogun since we began the enforcement that every commercial bus must install the speed limiter on Feb. 1,’’ he said.
Oladele said that the penalty was in multi fold; either the offender pays a fine, is charged to court or may be asked to fix the speed limiter in the vehicle before such vehicle would be released.
“The offender can be ask to pay N3,000 or be charged to court and let the magistrates decide what the penalty is going to be.
“We can also impound the offender’s vehicle and not release it to him or her until he or she had fixed the speed limiter.
“The bottom line is that do not be caught on the wrong side of the law,’’ he said.
Responding to complaints from some commercial drivers over the speed limiter, Oladele said that the FRSC had advised commercial motorist to patronize only certified dealers displayed on its website.
He said he was not aware of any complaints from commercial drivers but said the FRSC had shortlisted to the public those it would certify to sell the speed limiter to.
The commander said the dealers recognize that vehicles come in various specification and tonnage; they recognize that there are diesel engine trucks and petrol engine trucks.
“All you need to do is go to our website and check the list of speed-limiter dealers from whom you can make your choice, their addresses and telephone numbers are displayed there.
“Use only those that are certified because if you don’t patronize certified dealers you might run into problems.
“If there is any problem when you use the FRSC certified- speed limiter operators and you have problem with your vehicle, you can complain to the FRSC.
Such a dealer will be sanctioned or FRSC will remove them from the list on the website.
“Do not patronize the road side speed-limiter dealers, because they can damage your vehicles,’’ he said.
