FRSC summons PEACE MASS TRANSIT firm over spate of accidents

Rasheed Bisiriyu

The Federal Road Safety Corps on Wednesday summoned managers of Peace Mass Transit over the spate of road accidents involving the transport company.

It said the firm’s vehicles recorded 11 road accidents between January and June this year, resulting in the death of 37 people with 58 others injured.

According to the Corps Marshal, FRSC, Mr. Boboye Oyeyemi, the development is worrisome, unacceptable and needs to be urgently addressed.

He, therefore, directed the company to present all its drivers and vehicles for recertification and safety audit by the FRSC, while its safety managers must ensure that the speed limiters installed in their vehicles were not tempered with by the drivers.

Boboye, who spoke with the managers at the meeting, attributed the recent spate of crashes involving the company’s vehicles to systematic safety failure.

Between January 2015 and December 2015, eight crashes were recorded by the company’s drivers involving 62 casualties, with seven dead and 55 injured.

A statement by the the Head, Media Relations and Strategy, FRSC, Mr. Bisi Kazeem, quoted the corps marshal as saying he was alarmed by the growing rate of road crashes involving vehicles belonging to the company, noting that as the lead agency for road safety management and administration in the country, FRSC was conscious of its responsibilities to road users through appropriate policy measures.

Boboye also urged the Peace Mass Transit to ensure that its terminals were made conducive for smooth operations with a provision for emergency vehicles.

He said the meeting with the transport firm would lead to resolutions on the necessary measures that could be adopted to address the menace of road traffic crashes involving the company’s vehicles.

“The safety document prepared for the company by the FRSC for its operational guidelines must be properly utilised and a new safety orientation must be imbibed by the drivers of the company through more thorough monitoring and strict adherence to safety rules,” he stated.

“One of such safety measures is Road Transport Safety Standardisation Scheme, which was launched in 2007 as an intervention strategy for ensuring professionalism in road transport management in accordance with the FRSC Establishment Act 2007,” he stated.

Responding, the Chairman of the Peace Mass Transit, who was represented by the Executive Director, Operations, Ugwu Chidubem, said the company was concerned about the recent upsurge in the death rate recorded by its drivers and promised that adequate safety measures were being taken to address it.

He enumerated some of the measures already taken to include the installation of speed limiting device in the company’s vehicles; avoidance of overloading; regular training of the drivers and routine checks of the vehicles.