Road safety is a shared responsibility

The one week special patrol according to the commission is to mitigate attendant irresponsible driving and road crashes in keeping with the 2015 Corps strategy of 20 percent and 30 percent reduction in road traffic crashes and fatalities. The focus of the ongoing patrol is on the following violations; driver licence, number plate, speed violation, […]

The one week special patrol according to the commission is to mitigate attendant irresponsible driving and road crashes in keeping with the 2015 Corps strategy of 20 percent and 30 percent reduction in road traffic crashes and fatalities. The focus of the ongoing patrol is on the following violations; driver licence, number plate, speed violation, overloading and lane discipline.
 As we reflect on the road traffic crash trends during festivities, I hope and pray that a new era of responsible driving and zero crashes will be ushered in 2015. But while I indulge in these prayer sessions, I believe strongly that one of the major planks for this change is today’s piece which was propelled by an address by Boboye Oyeyemi, the Corps Marshal and chief executive of the commission during a joint press conference with stakeholders in transportation business held on 22 March in Abuja. His address focused on the need for stronger collaboration with stakeholders, especially in areas such as enforcement on retro-reflective tapes and speed limiting devices, joint public enlightenment and the critical efforts of the Corps in speeding up matters relating to the drivers licence and other initiatives.
I have chosen to bring up  discussions on road safety as a shared responsibility because of the need to properly situate road safety in a clime where discussions on safe driving  focuses more on the numerous responsibilities of the commission as against individual responsibilities either as drivers, commuters or transport operators. Road safety crisis for a fact is the leading cause of preventable deaths; the third largest cause of disabilities. In Africa it is the second largest cause of death after AIDS/HIV and even the new entrant, Ebola.  A study has shown that 10 percent of global road deaths occur in Africa though only 4 percent of the world’s registered vehicles are in the continent. This study posits that if reporting of road crashes were to improve, the road crash index in the continent will be different as it most likely would show more deaths. South Africa and Nigeria, according to this study accounts for most of the reported deaths.
These deaths, according to the study, are caused mostly by human error and vehicle factors that include the following; speeding, dangerous overtaking, alcohol and drug abuse, negligence of drivers, poor driving standards, overloaded people or goods vehicles, poor tyre maintenance, burst tyre, bad roads and hilly terrain, negligence of pedestrians, distraction of drivers by passengers and cellphone use among others.
As we ponder over the falling value of the naira and reduced funding for even critical road safety initiatives, it is imperative to situate stakeholder’s responsibilities which since 1988 have coloured key strategies of the commission. In view of this, I have chosen to run some excerpts of the address by my boss, who during the conference, noted the FRSC management’s decision to sustain the tempo of enforcement witnessed during last year’s special operation, with public enlightenment identified as a strategic element in the campaigns to make our roads safer.  
To commend the level of synergy, he noted that most ardent partners and collaborators in the road transport business who have remained steadfast in the campaign for safer road environment have been carefully brought into the national campaign for this year. To further sustain the tempo of partnership, is the  increased courtesies to  stakeholders such as the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Nigeria Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN), the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas  – Petroleum Tankers Drivers unit (NUPENG – PTD) all geared towards rejigging novel strategies.  
During these visits, discussions have focused on the need to build on a partnership which in 2014 led to 49 percent reduction in the rate of crashes and 42 percent in fatalities. This performance, according to the FRSC, also impacted on our overall performance which resulted in reduction of road traffic crashes by 24 percent and fatality also reduced by 8 percent in 2014. These meetings have equally drummed up the need for joint rallies by the stakeholders to showcase the collective decision to tackle road traffic crashes, especially violations such as dangerous driving, route violation and overloading, which incidentally form part of the Easter patrol.   
Since road safety partly stands on the state of vehicles, drivers training and recruitment, the commission, the Corps Marshal noted, has intensified partnership with all relevant stakeholders, including the transportation association, especially NARTO, for Nigeria to implement the ECOWAS directive on retro-reflective tapes to be affixed to tankers and trailers operating on Nigeria’s highways soon. This ECOWAS directive, he observed, has been implemented by other countries in the sub-region. While I commend the resolve by the unions to see to the success of the scheme, it is also gladdening that the same level of enthusiasm is being shown towards the forthcoming enforcement of the law on speed limiters slated for 1st June this year, when all commercial vehicles are expected to be fitted with the speed limiting device.  
On speed limiters enforcement, he expressed worry over unacceptable and avoidable crashes that are speed related, stressing that studies have shown that speed related factors alone accounted for about 50.8 percent of crashes that occurred in Nigeria last year. As has been proven, speed limiting devices automatically control the speed of a moving vehicle to the programmed speed limits against the tendency of the drivers to drive above the stipulated speed limits … The use of speed limiting device in vehicles, is however, not new in automobile technology, as some nations even in Africa, had since introduced its usage as a means of controlling speed on their roads.  
As was once stated on this page, the speed limiter initiative would make Nigeria join other countries, including African countries like Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda, where it has significantly reduced road traffic crashes. But most importantly for Nigeria, the speed limiter initiative could translate to a wholesome reduction of road traffic crashes nationwide by at least 35 percent. When the phase two of the initiative is extended to other categories of motorists, especially private vehicle owners, road traffic crash fatality would have been brought under manageable control in Nigeria. This will certainly facilitate to a large extent the goals of the Vision 20:2020 of placing Nigerian roads within the league of the 20 safest global roads.