Senate urges FG to establish trailer parks and introduce weighbridges

The Federal Government has been called upon to establish trailer parks and introduce weighbridges along the highways.

The Senate on Tuesday made the appeal following the increasing rate of road accidents caused by articulated vehicles in the country.

The Senate also urged the Nigeria Police Force, Federal Road Safety Corps and Vehicle Inspection Officers to clamp down on erring drivers of trucks and other articulated vehicles plying the nation’s highways.

It claimed that the vehicles were plying the roads without compliance with the minimum prescribed safety requirements.

The Senate’s directive was sequel to a motion moved by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Local Content, Senator Teslim Folarin

Folarin claimed that in 2017, there were 779 road traffic collisions involving trailers and tankers.

He said the incidents resulted in 737 fatalities and 2,622 injuries.

He said the statistics implied that an average of two Nigerians were killed every day and seven seriously injured in 2017 as a result of trailer/tanker accidents.

He further noted that the articulated vehicles’ accidents accounted for 28 percent of road accidents in Nigeria.

He expressed displeasure that despite the release of the safety guidelines and regulations by the FRSC, the articulated vehicles drivers continued to disobey the guidelines.

The Senate therefore directed its committee to investigate the adoption and implementation of the recommendations from the 2018 haulage Operators Stakeholders’ Summit among all relevant stakeholders.