There is no going back on the October 1 date for the implementation of speed limiting device nationwide as approved by President Mohammadu Buhari, the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has said.
The Commission’s Corps Marshall, Dr. Boboye Oyeyemi, stated this yesterday in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, at a public enlightenment forum for stakeholders in the transportaion sector, at old AKTC Park, on Ikot-Ekpene Road, Uyo.
Oyeyemi, who was represented by his assistant in charge of Policy, Research and Statistics, Dr. Kayode Olagunju, expressed dismay over the alarming statistics of road crashes on Nigeria highways.
He disclosed that last year, over 12,077 road crashes were recorded out of which 5,400 people (68 per cent) were said to have died as a result of over speeding.
The FRSC chief regretted that most of the crashes would have been avoided if appropriate safety measures had been adopted by those plying the highways.
According to him, the speed limiting device which would take effect next month, willsave Nigerians the embarrassment on the highways.
“Most of the road crashes are preventable,if we are able to bring down the speed. We’ll be saving a lot of lives on our highways’’ he said, noting that “accidents are caused not made.”
In his remarks, the Akwa Ibom Commissioner for Transport, Mr Godwin Ntukude, expressed satisfaction with the introduction of the speed limiting device. He, however, called for a technical session with all stakeholders to enlighten them on the nitty-gritty of the policy.
Utukude said: “There is no policy introduced by the government that will not have a positive effect on lives of the people, but let us have technical session with experts to ascertain whether it can be installed on an expired used (Tokumbo) vehicles or not. It is important for us to know this so that the good policy could not be rendered in another way.”
The command’s spokesman, Mr. Godgive Uwem, who spoke on the importance of speed limiting device, said Nigerian will be joining countries like Japan, Australia Sweden and the United States (U.S.), with the introduction and implementation of the policy.
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