The Federal Road Safety Corp (FRSC) on Wednesday said that 3,200 persons died from accidents caused by tankers and trailers across the country in the last four years.
Corps Marshal of FRSC, Boboye Oyeyemi, who disclosed this at a sensitisation rally tagged ‘Truck Transit Parks: A Panacea For Crash Free Haulage Operation in Nigeria’ organised by the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) in partnership with FRSC, said 3,226 tankers and trailers were affected between 2015 and 2018.
Represented by Assistant Corp Marshal, Victor Nwokolo, Oyeyemi, in a paper presented with the theme, “Improving Road Safety In Haulage Operations Through Truck Transit Scheme”, attributed the crash to driver’s fatigue, over speeding and drunk driving, which he said would be addressed if the TTPs initiative is implemented.
According to him, “Between 2015 to 2019, 3,226 articulated accidents have led to death of 3,200 Nigerians while 12,474 were wounded. 979 persons were killed in 2015, 910 in 2016, 737 in 2017 and 574 in 2018.
“Establishment of TTPs is key towards improving road safety and security of cargo. Statistics showed that the country has recorded several cases of road traffic crashes involving tankers/trailers from haulage business with causes ranging from driver’s fatigue, over speeding and drinking while driving. These have triggered the idea of TTPs for drivers to properly take care of themselves while on transit.”
Speaking earlier, the Executive Secretary of the NSC, Hassan Bello, said about 41 percent of articulated truck accidents is caused by fatigue.
Bello who was represented by the Director, Special Duties, Samuel Vongtau, said the TTPs is designed to provide temporary rest place for drivers.
He said, “It has been discovered that the main problems drivers complain about is 39 percent fatigue related while main causes of road crashes is 41 percent fatigue related. This is because most drivers sleep for just four hours in every 24 hours. This underscores the fact that safe and clean truck stops are needed.”
The NSC boss stated that the truck transit park is one of the 114 agriculture and transportation projects under the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) focus labs that was organised by Ministry of Budget and National Planning.
Bello urged truck drivers to patronise the functional Sunshine city TTP in Ondo State, stating that additional 10 TTPs are being built across the country.
“Under the Nigerian Shippers’ Council TTP project, the following locations have been identified for the establishment of TTPs: Port Novo Creek, Lagos State; Ogere, Ogun State; Onitsha, Anambra State; Mararaban Jos, Kaduna State; and Lokoja, Kogi State.
“Others are Obollo Afor, Enugu State; Benin Bypass, Edo State; Aviele, Edo State; Ilele, Sokoto State and Ore, Ondo State. A modern park has already been developed at Ore (Sunshine City) in collaboration with the Ondo State Government. I encourage you to patronise this park for optimum use,” he said.