The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has cautioned fleet operators who tamper with the calibrated Speed Limiting Devices in their vehicles to desist from such act or risk impoundment of their vehicles and subsequent compulsory re-installation and calibration of such speed limiters.
Corps Marshal, Boboye Oyeyemi, in a statement signed by Corps Public Education Officer, Bisi Kazeem, frowned on the dangerous act. He directed the zonal commanding officers, sector commanders and unit commanders across the country to impound on sight any vehicle caught in the act, prosecute the driver and force re-installation and calibration of the device.
Oyeyemi said such operators’ speed beyond the prescribed limit to make more trips within a short time at the detriment of the lives of their passengers and other road users.
Noting that the perpetrators wanted to ridicule the achievement of the corps since enforcement on the device commenced, he maintained that the corps would not allow such to prevail, as tactical strategies had been put in place to impound such vehicles and make the drivers face the law.
His words, “I have directed commanding officers to impound all vehicles suspected to have altered the device in their vehicles and ensure that such vehicles recalibrate the device before the vehicles are released and we shall be very strict and swift on this.”
On reason the corps introduced the policy some years back, the corps marshal restated: “The Federal Road Safety Corps as the lead government agency saddled with the responsibility of road traffic management in Nigeria, identified speeding as a major contributing factor to road crashes in the country.
“To create a safer motoring environment, which is our core vision, FRSC, in line with the resolutions reached with Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Automotive Council of Nigeria, Transport Union Association and other stakeholders, commenced the implementation and enforcement on the use of speed limiting devices in vehicles starting with commercial vehicles, nationwide.”
According to him, the law allows the corps to carry out such duties.
“The legal framework backing the commission’s implementation and enforcement of Speed Limiting Device for all categories of vehicles in Nigeria is stipulated in section 10(3) (m) of the FRSC (Est.) Act 2007 and section 152(4) of National Road Traffic Regulation 2012,” he said.