The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) Corps Marshal, Dr. Boboye Oyeyemi, has ordered a review of strategy for more effective enforcement on the use of speed-limiters in commercial vehicles, following increasing cases of speed-related crashes.
Oyeyemi’s orders were revealed in a statement by the Corps Public Education Officer, Assistant Corps Marshal Bisi Kazeem, in Abuja on Sunday.
The Corps Marshal directed Commanding Officers to step up enforcement of the law on the use of the speed-limiting device after a review of the first phase of end-of-year special patrol embarked on by FRSC.
The Corps Marshal described the phenomenon as unacceptable, noting: “We must step up enforcement of the regulations on the use of the speed-limiting device in the second phase of the special operations and first quarter of next year to drastically force down the growing trends of speed-induced crashes.
“The Commanding Officers are, hereby, given special directives on aggressive enforcement of the regulations on the use of the speed-limiting device to curb the rate of crashes and fatalities that speeding causes, as shown by the records of the first phase of the special operations.
“Consequently, those that are operating without speed limiters or those using faulty ones, as well as those that have reset their own speed limiters to make them ineffective, must not be spared to endanger other road users.”
The Corps Marshal noted that the increasing level of speed-induced crashes, as recorded within the period, was undermining the efforts of the Corps to ensure safer road environments.
Kazeem further said that other causative factors such as route violation, dangerous driving and light sign violations were not completely ruled out in the records of crashes that occurred within the period.
“However,” he added, “the reoccurring nature of speeding as a major factor was a source of deep concern to the Corps Marshal who has ordered for a review of the strategy for a more effective enforcement of the regulations on the use of speed-limiting device.”
The enforcement of the mandatory speed-limiting devices in commercial vehicles officially began on Wednesday, February 1, 2017, after President Muhammadu Buhari endorsed the implementation of the mandatory installation of the device in October 2016.
Earlier, the House of Representatives’ resolution of June 23, 2016, approved the introduction of speed limiter in accordance with the extant provisions of the FRSC Establishment Act(2007).
Thereafter, FRSC embarked on extensive consultation with relevant stakeholders and elaborate public education programmes.
However, until Corps Marshall Boboye Oyeyemi’s new orders on Sunday, installation of the speed limiters in vehicles and checks/enforcement by the Corps were negligible or even non-existent in some areas. – Vanguard.
