FRSC and speed limiters

A speed limiter such as the one being considered is a mechanical device that is installed in a vehicle to prevent the person behind the wheel from acceleration to speed level that is above a pre-designated limit. The designated speed is different for various categories of vehicles. As designed, the speed limiter operates independent of […]

A speed limiter such as the one being considered is a mechanical device that is installed in a vehicle to prevent the person behind the wheel from acceleration to speed level that is above a pre-designated limit. The designated speed is different for various categories of vehicles. As designed, the speed limiter operates independent of the vehicle’s driver.
In justifying the project, the FRSC cited statistics that appeared to show that speed-related factors account for over 50 percent of accident rate on Nigeria roads. The speed limit project is therefore intended to reduce the rate of road crashes on the highways by promoting driver discipline and better control of vehicles in motion.
Buttressing its case, the FRSC claimed that the adoption of statutory speed limits on road vehicles was not a local initiative by it. Rather, it went on, it was driven by global concerns expressed by organisations like United Nations over the growing incidents of avoidable deaths and injuries as well as associated damage and wastage of valuable stock in automobiles and other valuables. The FRSC also cited countries of the world, including the United Kingdom and the United States, which have statutorily established speed limits for all categories of road users. This is just as the African countries that have adopted it, such as Kenya, were already reaping the benefits of increased discipline on their highways, it said.
While the speed limiter initiative may have been prompted by a desire to address the concerns of road traffic death tolls, the need exists for the FRSC to ensure that it does its homework about the practical application of such project before enforcing it.  The Corps has an unflattering history of introducing nebulous programmes of very high financial turnover into its revenue coffers but of little practical contribution to road safety. And they end up being abandoned after the disbursement of huge stocks of public funds.  Such schemes would be imposed on the hapless public, only to have them flicker out at the level of implementation, leaving bitter after-taste. Typical instances include the introduction of reflective vehicle stickers, new vehicle number plates and the new driver’s licensing scheme that was son contentious the National Assembly had to step in to persuade the Corps’ management to vary it. Factors for such failures have ranged from short notice for deadlines, poor public mobilization and inadequate planning.
Meanwhile, the primary mission of enforcing basic traffic rules by the Corps is yet to be effectively executed, leading to glaring infractions like the rampant incidences of unlicensed, underage and drunken driving as well as overloading of commercial transport carriages, among others. Allowed to linger, such tendencies betray the systemic weaknesses of the Corps with respect to monitoring and related proactive responses to infractions of traffic rules.
What the Corps needs to do is to reappraise the speed limit project by first liaising with other players in the road transport sector to make contacts with vehicle manufacturers and importers to work out modalities to ensure vehicles coming into the country from a negotiated date have factory-fitted speed limiters.  The individual vehicle operator should not be made to carry extra financial burden, as the Corps’ policy suggests.