From: Sola Ojo, Kaduna
Kaduna Sector Commander of Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) RS 1.1, Umar Guntu Ibrahim, on Thursday, warned motorists against overloading especially those carrying passengers in their vehicle’s trunk.
He said this traffic offence is punishable under the FRSC act and attract N10,000 sanction.
The Sector Commander stated this while fielding questions from newsmen at the Kaduna secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) barely 24 hours after his boss, Corps Marshal Boboye Oyeyemi, flagged off end-of-year special patrol and ember months campaign to ensure reduced accident on major and minor roads in the state.
The Sector Commander had highlighted excessive overloading, road violation, dangerous driving, dangerous overtaking and non compliance to the installation of speed limit device especially by commercial vehicles as leading causes of accidents on Kaduna roads.
According to him, “sometimes, those commercial transport vehicles do carry overload and hid somewhere till after 18:00hours when they know we would be off the road. We normally leave the road when it’s getting dark because where are not bearing arms.
“There is no single day we don’t arrest people for overloading. This period, people seem to be in haste to make more returns. But there is no point trying to make returns at the expense of your live, your passengers and other road users. That is why we are on the road to sensitise and enforce measures to reduce road crashes before, during g and after yuletide.
“We are partnering with relevant stakeholders to ensure that, travelers enjoy safer roads. Already, we have seen the green light from the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), they are helping us to checkmate some of the traffic offences we have in the state. We are also calling on the media too to join us in this crusade.
On whether some motorists are too big to be arrested he said, “road safety has no immunity. If you think you are so big to be arrested because you can speed, go ahead the road itself is there to arrest you. We will arrest and fine anybody that violate the law whether uniform men or not. The constitution has given us the mandate to safe lives and property on Nigerian roads”.
On the ember month campaign he said, “the special patrol and ember months campaign was in furtherance of the public enlightenment programmes of the corps towards ensuring safer road environment especially during this period when traffic volume increases.
“To this end, we remain committed to providing necessary human and material resources for effective management of traffic in identified black spots and through awareness campaign on proper use of roads”.
Ibrahim then commended Kaduna State government for the provision and maintenance of good roads in the state stressing the need for motorists to adopt the right attitude to complement government’s efforts.