The Corps Marshal of the Federal Road
Safety Corps (FRSC) has expressed displeasure at the high rate of crashes
involving the vehicles of Peace Mass Transit (PMT), saying appropriate measures
must be put in place for safety of the passengers and other road users. Oyeyemi
stated this while declaring open an interactive session between the FRSC and
members of the Management of the Peace Mass Transit which to find lasting
solutions to the menace.
According to Bisi Kazeem, Head, Media
Relations and Strategy, FRSC in a press release the Corps Marshal,
is alarmed by the growing rate of crashes involving vehicles belonging to
the Company, noting that as the lead agency for road safety management and
administration in the country, FRSC is conscious of its responsibilities to
road users through appropriate policy measures put in place to address the
challenges of road traffic crashes in the country.
“One of such safety measures is Road
Transport Safety Standardisation Scheme (RTSSS) which was launched in 2007 as
an intervention strategy for ensuring professionalism in road transport
management in accordance with the FRSC Establishment Act 2007,” he stated. He
further stressed that the National Road Traffic Regulations (NRTR) 2012 was
equally enacted by the FRSC to deal with specific challenges of road safety,
noting that Regulation 198 (1) specifically stated that all road transport
operators who engage in inter-state road transport services shall establish a
safety unit and appoint a safety officer as the head of the unit who
shall ensure that operational standards are maintained as prescribed in the
regulation.
Oyeyemi stated that as part of the
strategies for ensuring close monitoring of the fleet operators in the country,
FRSC came up with the idea of annual certification programme which requires
fleet operators to present their vehicles and drivers as well as open their
premises for inspection and certification. He added that since its inception in
2007, the Road Transport Standardisation Scheme (RTSSS0 has registered 1,938
fleet operators, inspected terminals of 5,625 fleet operators and certified
3,704 fleet operators in its annual fleet certification exercise, while over
2,541 fleet operators’ safety managers have been trained.
The Corps Marshal pointed out that over
5,000 drivers of fleet operators have been certified while 642 convoy drivers
of the Nigeria governors were trained under the scheme. He was however
concerned that though Peace Mass Transit Limited is registered with the scheme
right from the inception and has been participating in the annual certification
exercise, there are some safety measures that it requires to put in place to
address the growing cases of crashes involving its vehicles. These he said
includes ensuing that it has competent safety manager/assistants in all its
terminals and presenting its drivers for recertification as required by law.
He urged the Peace Mass Transit to
ensure that its terminals are made conducive for smooth operations and that
provisions for emergency vehicles are made by the Company. FRSC Boss attributed
the recent spate of crashes involving the Company’s vehicles to systematic
safety failures which the Company must urgently address. “For instance, between
January 2015 to December 2015, 8 crashes were recorded by the Company’s drivers
involving 62 casualties. While 7 were killed, 55 of them were injured,” he
stated.
Expressing worry at the sharp increases
in crashes recorded by the Company’s vehicles between last year and January to
June this year, the Corps Marshal noted that 11 crashes were recorded within
six months of the year involving 95 casualties out of which 37 were killed
while 58 were injured. “These quantum increases must be of interest to
government and all road safety conscious individuals,” he stated.
“That is why the FRSC has decided to
call this meeting today for members of the Corps and Management of the Company
to critically examine the factors responsible for the falling safety standards
among the Company’s drivers with a view to finding lasting solutions to
the menace,” Oyeyemi stressed. The FRSC Boss urged the Company to present all
its drivers and vehicles for recertification and safety audit by the FRSC while
its safety managers must ensure that the speed limiters installed in their
vehicles are not tempered with by the drivers. “The Safety document prepared
for the Company by the FRSC for its operational guidelines must be properly
utilised and a new safety orientation must be imbibed by the drivers of the
Company through more thorough monitoring and strict adherence to safety rules,”
he stated.
In his remarks, the Chairman of the
Peace Mass Transit who was represented at the occasion by the Executive
Director, Operations, Ugwu Timothy Chidubem while assuring the Corps that the
Company is concerned with the recent upsurge in the death rate recorded by the
drivers, assured that adequate safety measures are being taken to address
reoccurrence. He enumerated some of the measures already taken to include
installation of speed limiting device in the Company’s vehicles, avoidance of
overloading, insistence on regular retraining of the drivers and ensuring
routine checks on the vehicle as well as improvement in customer service.
The interactive session is expected to
lead to resolutions on the necessary measures that the Company could adopt to
address the menace of road traffic crashes involving the Company’s
vehicles.
Tags
Society