[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he 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, Dec.19.
Mr Boboye Oyeyemi, the FRSC Corps Marshal, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that efforts had been put in place to impound any truck found contravening the order.
According to him, the ban is 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.
