By Moses Akaigwe
The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has announced massive mobilisation of its personnel and operational equipments for the 2021 Sallah special patrol. The 2021 Eid-El Kabir celebrations in Nigeria will hold on 20th July 20.
The Corps Public Education Officer, Bisi Kazeem, who made this public, said that the corps is embarking on the special patrol operation to ensure that motorists and other road users have a hitch free celebration, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and security challenges in the country and the rainy season.
According to him, no fewer than 35,000 of the FRSC Regular, special marshals, and Road Safety Club members, about 750 Patrol Vehicles, 120 Ambulances, 25 tow truck and over 200 bikes, would be on the road during the special operation that would last between July 16 to 25 nation-wide.
The Corps Public education Officer also stated that “FRSC has over the years developed this tradition of always organising special patrol operations during festive periods as a way of averting the chaos that characterise the road during such celebrations, as such, this year’s Eid el Kabir would not be an exemption.
“Motorists must endeavour to avoid traffic violations and remain conscious of their safety to avoid not only arrest and prosecution by members of the Corps, but falling prey to avoidable road crashes”.
To ensure the effectiveness of the operations, Kazeem revealed that the Corps Marshal, Dr Boboye Oyeyemi, directed commanding officers operating across various formations nationwide to ensure that the 52 corridors are properly manned throughout the period of the operations.
In another development, the FRSC has commenced Computer Based Test (CBT) for fresh applicants of the National Driver’s Licence in all the driving schools nationwide with effect from Tuesday, June 1, 2021.
The directive was given by the Corps Marshal, Dr. Boboye Oyeyemi, as part of the efforts by the road safety lead agency to enhance the integrity of the National Driver’s licence through the Driving School Standardisation Programme (DSSP) introduced to eliminate traffic crashes resulting from bad road culture.
Oyeyemi enjoined various state governments to expedite action on ensuring that the state motor licensing authorities key into the life-saving initiative as driving schools have been mandated to ensure compliance with immediate effect.
This was contained in a statement issued by the Corps Public Education Officer, Bisi Kazeem, who disclosed that the introduction of the CBT was targeted at ensuring conformity with globally acceptable standards on driver-training.
Kazeem explained that the computer-based tests would address the urgent need to tackle road traffic crashes occurring as a result of human factors – recalling that such factors contribute more than 75 percent of road traffic crashes in Nigeria.
The Corps Public Education Officer also disclosed that applicants are expected to undergo a total of 26 sessions during their training in the various driving schools before certificates are issued to them.
With the introduction of the test, at the end of the 25th session, the Driving School Standardisation Programme (DSSP) portal will automatically generate exam numbers which the applicant is expected to use to log into the CBT portal to access the examination questions.
“A total of 35 multi-choice questions are to be answered within a duration of 30 minutes and applicants must be able to score 60 percent and above to secure a pass mark that will guarantee the issuance of their driving certificates. Failure to secure the pass mark will lead to rewriting the test seven days after,” he further explained.
According to him, the introduction of the new programme is to complement existing efforts of the corps towards ensuring the standardisation of driving school programmes which is expected to translate into producing a better crop of drivers with a great deal of knowledge of safe road use.
He assured that the corps would continue to implement policies that lead to the eradication of road traffic crashes, saying that if the drivers are properly trained, then more than 75 percent of crashes on the road would have been mitigated.
Issuing the directive for the commencement of the CBT for fresh applicants, Dr. Oyeyemi had advised state governments to ensure that the computer-based examination is made compulsory for all before physical driving tests are conducted.