FRSC Bans Petrol Tanker Drivers From Night Journeys
The Federal
Road Safety Corps (FRSC) on Sunday reiterated its total ban of
petroleum tanker drivers from embarking on night journeys across the
country from Monday, December 19.
The FRSC Corps Marshal, Mr
Boboye Oyeyemi, told the News Agency of Nigeria
(NAN) in Lagos that efforts had been put in place to impound any truck
found contravening the order. Mr Oyeyemi said the ban is meant to promote safe petroleum haulage in the country.
“No tanker should be seen on the road at night, we need to find solutions to incessant crashes of tankers on the road.
“Beneficial as petroleum sector is to the nation, safe haulage remains FRSC concern.
“There
is a problem and we have solutions to them, no more night journeys for
petroleum products as from Monday, Dec. 19, enough is enough.
“The effects of crashes are quite unquantifiable on human life, the environment and to the economy,” Oyeyemi said.
The
FRSC boss also said that a crash involving a tanker laden with petrol
would lose about N50million being the cost of its contents and the
vehicle.
Oyeyemi said that many crashes that happened at night had also caused severe damage to people and the community.
He
said that apart from the lives lost, number of houses, shops, farm and
other investment were usually engulfed in flames during a crash
involving fuel tankers.
The Corps Marshal added that such incident had portrayed the nation in bad light in the comity of civilised nations.
Oyeyemi
said that the dimension and scale of devastation caused by crashes
involving petroleum tankers was evident in its multiplier-effects on the
society.
According to him, there are existing laws and
policies of government that are sufficient in tackling the problem if
every stakeholder complies.
He said that the National Road
Traffic Regulations 2013, the Road Transport Safety Standardisation
Scheme and Safe-to Load- Projects were part of the government efforts to
tackle the problem.
Oyeyemi advised tanker drivers to stop deliberate violation, neglect and non-compliance to basic road traffic regulation.
He
also appealed to them to stop intimidating other road users,especially,
those who drive light weight vehicles by exposing them to unnecessary
risk.
The FRSC boss said that the mandatory Speed Limiting
Device installation was a good initiative aimed at reducing
speed-related crashes.
“It is also essential to install
trackers in the vehicles on the fleet to obtain real time information
about drivers and driving behaviour which are paramount for successful
operations.
“Also drivers involved in delivery and distribution of petroleum products in the country must be properly trained and certified.
“Exposing drivers to new and emerging trends in the transport sector should be considered a priority,” he said.
NAN
reports that two weeks to the end of the year, the FRSC had said that
about 283 tankers had been involved in road accidents across the
country.
Oyeyemi disclosed this statistics in Lagos on
Saturday Dec. 17, at the Branch Executive Council Meeting of the
Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTDs).
He said that over N2billion was lost as a result of the accidents during the period.
Source: NAN