The Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) on Thursday reiterated its commitment to safety on the roads across the country during the last quarter of the year.
The Corps Public Education Officer, (CPEO) Mr Bisi Kazeem, told News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that all stakeholders are channeling efforts to ensure safety during the ember months due to increased traffic volume.
He said the organisation is committed to the safety of all auto passengers across the country before, during and after the Christmas period.
Kazeem said the corps had instituted an aggressive engagement of stakeholders and major fleet operators, saying key road safety issues that will drastically bring down crashes associated with the fleet had been agreed on.
He said other engagements were the meeting with Tank Farms, NNPC, DPR and MOMAN among others for immediate commencement of enforcement on compulsory safety standards for haulage in the country.
“This is to reduce to the barest minimum, incidences of crashes associated with trucks and tankers on the highways.
“Mr President, Muhammadu Buhari, had in November 2018, directed the constitution of a committee to look into safe haulage operation which was inaugurated by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF).
“It is part of the quest to achieve the resolution of the committee that led to the commencement of enforcement on compulsory safety standards for haulage.
“Be rest assured that all stakeholders are involved deeply and I know from the ongoing consultations and engagement, we shall achieve a positive result,” Kazeem said.
He said the FRSC adopted a multi-dimensional and holistic approach when it comes to achieving its mandate.
“In the event of any breakdown, strategies have also been put in place to ensure prompt removal of any broken down trucks and others on the road.
“Every year, the corps does a general assessment and analysis of its strategies so as to strengthen up areas where we made progress and work on areas that we could not achieve much in preparation for the next year.
“It is this inbuilt consistency and dynamism that has helped us achieve this much in crash reduction,’’ Kazeem said.
He said the commencement of the enforcement on class A license and number plates for tricycles and motorcycles was another giant stride towards ensuring the safety and security of all road users.
“The aim was to ensure that all riders can be identified, properly trained, qualified and licensed to operate on the roads to avoid recalcitrant drivers taking over the highways to avoid putting lives at risk.
“It is also to ensure that all tricycles and motorcycles have identity.
“The Corp Marshal, Dr Boboye Oyeyemi had directed all commanding officers to ensure that every patrol team has enough breathalyser to administer on suspected dangerous drivers.
“This became necessary in the fight against drug abuse by drivers to ensure safety before, during and after the ember months,’’ Kazeem said.
He said as the leading agency in traffic management, FRSC had encouraged state governments to establish traffic management agencies to complement existing strategic efforts of the corps.
“We also organised periodic workshops for this traffic agencies to keep them abreast with the dynamics of effective traffic management to achieve free flow of traffic across the country.” (NAN)