3,200 Persons Killed By Tankers, Trailers in Four Years- FRSC

… 41% Of road crashes caused by fatigue- Shippers’ Council Boss

Abiola Seun |

The Federal Road Safety Corp (FRSC) yesterday said 3,200 persons have died from accidents caused by articulated vehicles – tankers and trailers- across the country in the last four years.

Speaking yesterday at the sensitisation rally on Truck Transit Parks: A Panacea For Crash Free Haulage Operations in Nigeria held in Lagos by the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) and FRSC, the Corp Marshal, Boboye Oyeyemi said 3,226 tankers and trailers were affected between 2015 -2018.

Oyeyemi who was represented by Assistant Corp Marshal, Victor Nwokolo while presenting a paper, “Improving Road Safety In Haulage Operations Through Truck Transit Scheme”, attributed the crash to drivers’ fatigue, over speeding and drunk driving which he said would be addressed if the TTPs come to being.

He said, “between 2015 to 2019, 3,226 articulated accidents have led to death of 3200 Nigerians while 12,474 were wounded.”

Giving details, he said, “979 persons were killed in 2015, 910 in 2016, 737 in 2017 and 574 in 2018.”

The FRSC Corp Marshall said, “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, Barr. Hassan Bello said about 41 percent of articulated truck accidents is caused by fatigue.

According to Bello who was represented by the Director, Special Duties, Samuel Vongtau, the TTPs is a rest place 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 are 41 percent fatigue related. This is because most drivers sleep for just 4hours in every 24hours. This underscores the fact that safe and clean truck stops are needed.”

The Shippers’ Council boss stated that the TTPs is one of the 114 Agriculture and Transportation project under the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) focus labs that was organised by Ministry of Budget and National Planning.

Bello who urged truck drivers to patronise the functional Sunshine city TTP in Ondo said additional 10 TTPs are being built across the country.
“Under the Nigerian Shippers’ Council’s TTPs 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; 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 charged.