The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has warned commercial vehicle operators against ignoring directives to install speed limiters in their vehicles, saying the corps would not renege on its October 1 enforcement date.
The Corps Marshall, Dr. Boboye Oyeyemi, said the timely implementation would reduce the rate of carnage on the country’s roads, especially in this third quarter when road crashes are often high.
Dr. Boboye Oyeyemi represented by Assistant Corps Marshall in charge of policy, research and statistics, Dr. Michael Olagunju, Oyeyemi expressed dismay over the staggering statistics of road crashes on Nigerian roads.
He revealed that in 2015 alone, over 12,077 road crashes were recorded, out of which 5,400 people, representing 68 per cent, lost their lives as a result of overspeeding alone.
He said the speed limiters, which would take effect from October 1, would save Nigerians the embarrassment on the highways.
“Most of the road crashes are preventable. If we are able to bring down the speed, we will be saving a lot of lives on our highways,’’ he said.
The state Commissioner of Transport, Mr. Godwin Ntukude, expressed satisfaction with the introduction of the speed-limiting device but called for a technical session with all stakeholders to enlighten them on the nitty-gritty of the policy.
He said, “There is no policy introduced by government that will not have a positive effect on lives of the people, but let us have technical session with experts to ascertain if it could be installed on second-hand vehicles.”
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