FRSC gives Sept 1 deadline for speed limiters on commercial vehicles

The Federal Road Safety Corps is set to clamp down on commercial drivers who do not install speed limiters in their vehicles by September 1.

The Lagos State Zonal Commanding Officer, Zone RS2, Mr. Nseobong Akpabio, who disclosed this in Magboro, Ogun State on Monday, stated that any commercial driver who failed to comply with the directive would be apprehended.



Akpabio said stakeholders including members of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers at a summit in June agreed that the initiative would reduce the rate of road traffic crashes and the increasing occurrence of fuel tanker explosions in the country.

He said,“ The speed limiter is a mechanical device installed in a vehicle to prevent it from going beyond the preset speed limit which is 90km/hr. Between now and August, all trucks must have this device otherwise no truck would be allowed to load in any depot across the country.

“The purpose is to curtail the speed of the drivers. We are determined to bring these crashes down.”

Akpabio noted that there was an urgent need for the Federal Government to decongest haulage activities on Lagos roads by utilising other distribution channels across the country.

He said, “At the stakeholder’s forum, we discovered that 85 per cent of petroleum products are deposited in Lagos. So truck drivers come from Maiduguri, Port Harcourt and Sokoto and have to drive to Lagos to load petroleum products.

“However, there are many tank farms in Warri, Calabar and other locations across the country. There is a need for the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to repair broken down pipelines so that these products can be channeled from other states and we can decongest the Lagos route.”

The corps marshal also stated that the agency would be collaborating with the Standards Organisation of Nigeria on the regulation of imported trucks used for haulage purposes.

He said, “We found out that many of the trucks involved in fire explosions and other accidents belonged to independent petroleum marketers and the quality of their trucks could not be ascertained.

“When a haulage truck does not meet up to the required standard, it may not be able to cope with the load of the products and it will be more difficult for the driver to control the vehicle, this may lead to a crash.”

In addition to administering breathalyser on truck drivers, Akpabio said the agency had given a directive that two drivers must accompany all haulage trucks.

Akpabio noted that this “would ensure that tanker drivers do not drive for more than four hours while they are also able to observe the compulsory 30 minutes rest for each journey.”