FRSC proposes N50,000 fine for phone use on wheels

“What is currently obtainable cannot do the work, but when you have to pay N50,000 to N100,000 for using your phone while driving, then we will get somewhere.”

Segun Adio, Lagos

The Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Mr. Boboye Oyeyemi, has said the corps is advocating an upward review of fines payable by users of mobile telephones while at the wheel.

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The Corps Marshal also said that a minimum fine from N50,000 to N100,000 would serve best as deterrence to defaulters rather than the paltry amount being currently demanded from defaulters.

Oyeyemi also said no fewer than 74 FRSC officials were killed by reckless drivers in the last 18 months across the country.

Oyeyemi, who warned that the commission would stop at nothing to bring killers of his personnel to justice, added that plans were already in place for road traffic offenders to be given stiffer punishment.

The FRSC boss said: “Already, there are efforts before the National Assembly to jerk up the fine payable for a phone user while on the wheels.

“What is currently obtainable cannot do the work, but when you have to pay N50,000 to N100,000 for using your phone while driving, then we will get somewhere.

“In the last 18 months, I have lost about 74 lives. We will not stop at ensuring the prosecution of those errant drivers. It is my responsibility to ensure the safety of my personnel on the highway; so, if you knock down my personnel and you are running away, I will go after you,” he said.

Explaining further, the Corps Marshal said it was discovered during the last Sallah patrols, that 30 percent of articulated vehicle drivers do not see well at night: “When drivers have vision problems, they should go to optometrists who will refer them to opthamologists to correct their poor sight. We are also talking to them on the need to have speed limit control on their vehicles. The price has come down to N15,000 so the noise about cost isn’t valid anymore.”

Oyeyemi said a great number of drivers did not know how to drive, blaming driving schools for not living up to expectations.

Also, the managing director of A&A Global Leasing Services, Mrs. Oluwaseye Yomi-Sholoye, called on government to rehabilitate roads, noting that the deplorable state of the roads was elongating trips and causing hardship.