To many commercial motorists, the coming of the speed limiting device was bad news. There appears to be respite in the horizon, with the Senate’s plan to stop its implementation by the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC). This intervention, experts say, may compel FRSC to devise alternative ways to prevent accidents, protect lives and properties, writes ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE
The enforcemet of the speed limiter device by the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) is under threat.This may force the agency to look for other ways to stop carnage and protect lives. The federal lawmakers seem bent on stopping the enforcement of the installation of the device which kicked off across the country in February.
The device,which used to be N25,000 as at 2015, now costs N35,000 and works by cutting fuel supply into the engine once a driver accelerates beyond the calibrated speed limit of the vehicle, generally put by local resellers across the country at 80 km/h.
Once the fuel supply is cut, the vehicle loses speed and the velocity drops until it gets back to the calibrated speed when it picks up again. In other words, the vehicle at no point in time could go beyond the calibrated speed limit. The gambit is that the speed is fixed at 80 for all categories of roads, whether highway, dual carriage or inner city roads, most of which are usually as most of them go in this part of the world – terribly bad shape.
The enforcement, which originally ought to have started two years ago, eventually began February, much to the chagrin of commercial motorists, who, due to the volume of passengers they carry per trip, were the first on the line of enforcement.
Harping on the parlous state of the economy, commercial operators and fleet owners had mounted pressure to abort the enforcement.
The Senate gave vent to their concern last week. Senator Dino Melaye (APC Kogi West), hinging on the biting recession, declared that the timing for the enforcement was wrong.
“To ask individuals to purchase speed limiting device from road safety is unacceptable and this is even not the time to do it,” the Senator said.
According to Melaye, “the proposal by the FRSC to sell speed limit device to all car owners, would cause further economic hardship for Nigerians, who are already traumatised by a worsening economy,” adding that buying such devices for all vehicles owned by individuals may be a burden.
Though in the meantime, Senate President Bukola Saraki had referred the issue to the Committee on Federal Character, the FRSC had strongly denied its involvement in retailing the device.
FRSC’s spokesperson Bisi Kazeem, however said accredited vendors are in charge of the sales and calibration of the device across the country and not the FRSC.
“There are accredited vendors screened by the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC) and FRSC.
“They are the ones in charge of sales and calibration of the speed limiting device, not the FRSC,” he said.
Same sentiments were echoed by the Corps’ Lagos Sector Commander Hyginus Omeje, who went further to say that the Corps will continue to provide a level playing ground for all operators and ensure that Nigerians are not shortchanged by any sharp trader as there are avenues to lodge complaints against any trader found to be dealing in substandard SLD hardware in the country.
Complaints galore
Complaints had trailed the enforcement of the device by the FRSC, despite the fact that the decision to adopt the SLD option in reducing road carnage was taken by all stakeholders in the transportation industry at several meetings facilitated by the agency between 2014 and 2015.
Lately members of the Lagos State branch of the Allied Trucks Transporters Association of Nigeria (ATTAN), had protested enforcement.
Armed with all kinds of placards, ATTAN members said the device is causing more collateral damages to their vehicles, and called for the cancellation of the forced installation of the device on aging vehicles.
They said the device was hindering effective performance of their vehicles, some of which could no longer move fast, while the engines of others they alleged, had out rightly knocked down. They equally pointed out that the installation has also led to the overheating of some other vehicles, leading to higher maintenance cost.
Its Board of Trustees Chairman, Evang. Johnson Oyedemi, therefore urged the safety agency to stop the implementation as it is causing so much hardship pointing out that many of his members are fast losing their source of livelihood as a result of the policy. Simply put, ATTAN regards the policy as extortion, and like all extortions; “it is bad, evil, illegal and must stop.”
Oyedemi’s position is reinforced by Senator Melaye who contended that rather than raming the device down the throat of motorists, the agency should copy global best practices by mounting appropriate speed limiting devices on the roads. The roads and not vehicles are where the speed limiting devices are needed, says Melaye.
“In every civilised part of the world, it is the responsibility of road safety authorities or agencies like FRSC are to mount speed limiting devices on the roads, and when you beat this speed they charge you,” he said.
Enforcement
Though the FRSC were unable to present a comprehensive data of the pattern of enforcement across the country, facts emanating from some sectors showed there has been strict enforcement.
In Ogun State for instance, no fewer than 100 such motorists were apprehended daily since the enforcement kicked off on February 1, says the sector commander Mr. Clement Oladele.
He said theywill continue to apprehend commercial bus operators who flout the order, even as he advised motorists to patronise accredited dealers to avoid complications.
“These dealers recognise that vehicles come in various specifications and tonnage. They also recognise that there are diesel engine trucks and buses as well as petrol engines. All you need to do is go to our website and check the list of the accredited dealers from whom you can make your purchases. Use only the accredited ones to avoid running into problems during installation. When you have problem with an FRSC certified reseller, you can complain to the FRSC for appropriate actions to be taken.”
Omeje said his sector hasalso stepped up enforcement, adding that though enforcement remained largely advisory, offenders’ vehicles may not be released once impounded until the SLD is installed.
Putting it more succinctly, Omeje said: “The bottom line is that do not be caught on the wrong side of the law.
“We are talking about safety here and it makes economic sense not only to protect your life, but also your investment. The limiter will greatly help reduce the rate of accidents on our roads. The lives of 170 million Nigerians most of who need one form of public transportation or the other must be preserved. Our focus are; commercial vehicles first, because they carry large volume of passengers and we tend to lose more lives through them than private car owners,” he said.
For him, the onus is on Nigerians to leverage on technology to address a major area that needed improvement in the nation and if developed societies have developed a device to reduce speed and by so doing have cut down carnage, Nigeria could do same.
He said like other climes, over speeding has become a major causative factor in fatalities on the nation’s roads.
Omeje therefore urged Nigerians to get used to the inherent benefits of the SLD and support the drive to make Nigerian roads saner and safer.
The other angle
Much as FRSC’s angle seemed plausible, however, experts cautioned that the speed limiter will continue to fail, if the agency failed to address the real issues bedeviling the nation’s roads.
Founder of Safety Without Borders Patrick Adenusi is one stakeholder who believed enforcing SLDs is like “leaving the root causes of an ailment to start treating ailments.”
He said though in Europe, over speeding have been identified as a major issue, the causes are poles apart from why same applies to Nigerians.
He listed good roads, good vehicles and excitements as among the leading causes of over speeding in Europe, while in Nigeria, over speeding are a combination of bad roads, high level of indiscipline and wholesale disregard for traffic regulations, and near absence of road signage as major causes of over speeding among Nigerian motorists.
Pointing out the significance of signages, he said while almost every roads in America hasspeed limit signs, the total number of signs on Nigerian roads (about 998,000 kms) are not up to 5,000.
“The most important question that Nigerians should be asking the FRSC is what speed are they exceeding? Where are the signs specifying approved speed limits? You hardly find them. Without them, no laws are broken. The calibrated 80 km/h speed limit is on dual carriageways, so what happens if a vehicle calibrated at 80 km/h drives in densely populated or residential areas? If you ask him to use commonsense speed, the question you should ask is what makes common sense?”
He said motorists heading to Ibadan, who have spent three hours between Apapa, where he lives and the Redeemed Camp would instinctively result to speeding once he gets to Sagamu interchange and sees a freer road, in order to recoup the hours lost in intra-city traffic.
Siding with Senator Melaye, Adenusi said speed limiting ought to be on the roads signs. He urged FRSC to rather than forcing hapless Nigerians who are battered by the harsh economy to install devices should encourage states across the country to put up road signs on roads that specify the speed limits on each class of roads and strictly enforce compliance by ticketing offenders.
If you are doing 80 where you are supposed to be doing 35 you are already over-speeding irrespective of the speed calibration on your vehicle.
He also called for urgent repair of all road networks with appropriate road furniture that would support intelligent and safe driving.
He called for an overhaul of the security architecture on the nation’s roads to provide more security to travellers, who are exposed to hijacks, abduction, and kidnaps because the roads are highly insecured. “What numbers should a driver in distress call to recieve help? Are there plans for emergency responders to assist traumatised travellers?
Faced with extreme danger on the highway, would a vehicle with a calibrated speed limit not be an albatross than a blessing when the driver could have sped to safety?
Conclusion
Adenusi believed zeroing down to speed limiters is pigeon-holeling the many factors that makes the nation’s roads unsafe.
For him, to solve the jigsaw, FRSC might need to think outside the box. “Too many things are not been done properly. The FRSC need to be tactical, reasonable and professional,” he said.
One can only hope that this could be done swiftly.
