The Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Boboye Oyeyemi, has said that fines payable by traffic offenders may be increased this year. While noting that the penalty stipulated by the law is rather low, Oyeyemi also revealed that a total of 4,410 Nigerians lost their lives in 7,937 road crashes in 2017, while 23,392 victims were injured.
The Corps Marshal, who was giving a review of FRSC’s performance in 2017 in Abuja on Monday, said that the figures were lower compared to the number recorded in 2016 during which 4,527 persons died while 26,749 others sustained varying degrees of injuries. He described the reduction in crashes and fatalities as “a success story.”
In his remark about the possibility of increasing the fines payable by road traffic offenders, Oyeyemi said, “You can’t fine an offender N4,000 for using a mobile phone while driving and he would still go back and commit the same offence. “The fines may go up this year; we would also have more mobile courts on the highways to try offenders,” he said.
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Society