Head of Media and Public Relations, Federal Road Safety Corps, Bisi Kazeem, speaks to FATTEH HAMID on the recent increase in road crashes, and the safety of motorists, among other issues
There has been an increase in reports about road crashes and fatalities across the country. What could be responsible for the surge?
The reality on the ground is that there is no rise in road crashes. As a matter of fact, what we have is a decline. However, we recorded a slight rise in fatalities where a reasonable number of people were killed in a few crashes. And these crashes occurred as a result of night trips, fatigue, route violation, dangerous overtaking, use of worn-out and expired tyres, and excessive speed. And you know our men do not operate at night, and as such, these drivers take advantage of our absence on the road at night to violate established traffic regulations, some of which I mentioned above.
Another reason why the figures, especially the fatalities, are getting higher is that the corps has expanded its coverage capacity and response time. Its visibility cuts across almost 700 local government areas in Nigeria. The implication is that report rendition and data collation has been made robust and that is helping in shaping the dimension of our policy formulation and implementation.
What is the agency doing to address this?
We are already on it. Part of the efforts we are making is the enhanced visibility for effective enforcement, intensified public education and awareness creation. The establishment of the National Traffic Radio 107.1 FM is another step towards changing the driving culture and giving real-time traffic updates. We have also deepened stakeholder engagement, especially with the major transport unions, fleet operators and so on. These engagements are to, among other things, admonish and where necessary, compel them to play their role in vehicle maintenance, invest in driver education and training, and observe maximum safety standards.
The corps is ISO certified and for a public organisation to be able to achieve that, its processes and procedures must meet the quality standard. As such, we can never be overwhelmed because we have the required quality of personnel and resources to control and manage any kind of traffic situation in the country.
Cases of fallen tankers and containers have become a recurrence in Lagos despite efforts to address the problem. What do you think is a lasting solution to the problem?
One of the key reasons for those container crashes, as discovered through painstaking investigation and research, is that most of them are manned by untrained or partially trained and inexperienced drivers. Before now, the key issue was their inability to meet basic safety standards, which necessitated the establishment of commands in tank farms to ensure that before any tanker loads inflammable products, it must meet the maximum safety standards. We can say to a reasonable extent that the compliance level, particularly that of mandatory installation of speed limits devices, though not 100 per cent, is quite impressive. However, we are still engaging them on the need to have each truck, trailer or tanker to have functional onboard cameras for round-the-clock monitoring of the activities of drivers. We have also deepened engagement in the installation of safety valves in tankers to eliminate all incidences of spillage in the event of a crash.
Many Nigerians complain about being harassed by traffic law enforcement agencies, including the FRSC, over faded number plates. What exactly is the issue here?
What we are saying is that driving a vehicle with a faded number plate on our roads is like living with neighbours who do not have any identities, and that is a huge security risk to other road users. This is because miscreants, kidnappers, terrorists as well as other enemies of the state can leverage that gap to commit heinous crimes because their identities are masked. The emphasis I think should be channelled into educating people so that owners of faded number plates can replace them rather than devoting energy to whether or not an arrest is imminent.
But the number plates were issued by the FRSC. Should the corps not take the blame for the poor quality?
Even human beings get to a certain age and lose their strength, their beauty fades away, their bones become weak and so on. Do you now say that God did not use quality materials in creating mortals? Time and season happen to all these products. If the vehicle and all its parts, including the paint on it, are subject to fading away and wear and tear, then the number plate should not be an exception. We are known for quality, both in our service and products; so saying the quality of materials we use is substandard does not capture the truth.
Some years back, the FRSC sensitised motorists to the need to use the speed limit device and vowed to enforce it. Why has the campaign fizzled out?
The campaign is still on and special patrol operations are organised at intervals to make a massive impoundment of vehicles whose owners refuse to comply. We still issue a notice of offence tickets to them and, in most cases, compel them to get them fixed.
But despite that, road accidents caused by excessive speed are prevalent on the major highways. What can be done about that?
I have told you that most of the speed limit violations happen at night. For those that occur in the daytime, the corps has devices and strategies to combat them. Part of these include the deployment of personnel to undertake more red-flag duties on the highways. The fight is not beyond us and I assure you that we will upturn it in no time.
What is your view about the rejection of accident and road crash victims by hospitals for not having a police report?
If you see any hospital that does that, kindly report them. The law is explicit on that and it stipulates a fine of N50,000 for the rejection of crash victims.
Despite the law instructing hospitals to handle such emergencies, it hasn’t been complied with. What do you think can be done to compel hospitals to obey the law?
They don’t reject any victim when our rescue and medical team take them there. And we don’t have any such formal reports of rejection of crash victims. However, if you happen to come across any, kindly report them to us and we will take it up from there.
What are the procedures for reporting them?
Normally, hospitals are meant to admit all crash victims in their accident and emergency wards. However, some hospitals reject such victims. As you are aware, the FRSC frowns greatly on this and has encouraged relatives, well-wishers and first responders to crash victims to report such cases to the nearest command, which will in turn record such and take all necessary actions against the errant hospital. Such action is captured in the notice of offence sheet and a fine of N50,000 will be awarded against the hospital.
What do you think can be done to rid Nigerian roads of fake or substandard tyres, which you said are partly responsible for road crashes?
We are already doing aggressive sensitisation and enlightenment on that.
Many motorists claim that they are compelled to take one-way (drive against normal flow of traffic) due to ongoing road construction on major highways, despite the glaring danger it poses to other road users. What is your thought on that?
There is adequate caution, warning and informative signs that give people all the traffic information about the condition of the road and how drivers should navigate through, including the maximum speed limit to apply. If you follow the information on the signs placed on the road, you will have a safe trip. It’s only when you contravene that that it becomes dangerous to you and other road users.
Are you aware that commercial bus drivers pretend to use seat belts? Have there been arrests on this and what’s the effort of the FRSC to curb it?
We are recording arrests in that regard and intensifying public education as well through our radio station on the dangers of the bad road use culture.
Some of your men have been accused of taking bribes on the road. Is there any disciplinary measure put in place to deter others?
Of course, the corps has its position against corruption and bribery. We have our internal regulatory mechanisms that spell out procedures for trial and sanctions when operatives are caught in the act. And as a matter of fact, if anyone is caught collecting bribes, the punishment is the termination of appointment or dismissal from service.
What channels are being pursued to enlighten the public about second-hand and fake tyres?
The Federal Road Safety Corps has explored and is still exploring all print media, online platforms and out-of-home publicity media such as stakeholders’ collaboration and motor park rallies to educate the motoring public on the things to look out for before the purchase of a new tyre. Those things to look out for are not limited to observation of the threading on the tyre, taking cognisance of the manufacture date. The tyre must not be more than two years of manufacture before the date of purchase as well as equally noting the department of transport certification on the body of the tyre. Such campaigns are done across all the FRSC formations in the local dialects of the host communities and the prevailing media outlet as well as the available motor parks in those host communities. The campaigns are done by public education officers in such formations.
Some number plates get faded after a year or two. How long does it take to replace an old or damaged one?
Where materials are available for the production of number plates, it doesn’t take up to two days for the issuance of a number plate for a new vehicle, and also less than one week for re-issuance in case of theft, loss, mutilation and where they become faded.
Who bears the cost of re-issuance of a faded number plate originally issued by the FRSC?
The fading of the number plate is not the making of the FRSC, hence the cost of re-issuance is not to be incurred by the FRSC. This is because vehicle owners often wash their vehicles with highly concentrated detergents, which have a direct negative effect on their vehicle colours as well as the number plates, which are a part of the vehicle. In this case and other cases of theft, loss and mutilation from crashes, replacement is at the cost of the vehicle owners. Such vehicle owners must first apply and will be contacted on the required fee for the replacement through the motor vehicle administration.
Some Nigerians accused the police of assuming the responsibilities of the FRSC on the road. What do you think about that?
First, do not forget that the Nigeria Police Force has a traffic management department that has the right to check motor vehicles and traffic infractions. They are known as the traffic police. Secondly, the conventional Nigerian policeman equally reserves the right to check vehicles and request particulars where the vehicle and its owner are suspicious. The limitation of the Nigerian policeman lies in the processing, production and issuance of vehicle documents and driving licence to vehicle owners.
The black box in vehicles is meant to investigate road crashes. How much awareness do you think exists among motorists about this?
The Federal Road Safety Corps is part of the security architecture of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, given that the vehicle number plate is the identity of all vehicles and their owners contained in the database. The Safety Engineering Department of the FRSC in charge of accident investigation makes use of it and we encourage fleet operators, especially their safety managers, to make use of it for investigation purposes. In cases of criminal activities and the number plate is captured, the owner of the vehicle that was used to perpetuate the crime can be easily traced. All vehicle owners are aware of this and publicity campaigns on the processes of obtaining number plates, which are usually done across the states of the federation intermittently, capture the security features of the vehicle number plates. This feature is in all vehicles so long as they are registered.
