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MORE than 1,000 people were killed between December 2016 and January 2017 as a result of auto crashes caused by tanker drivers across the country. Boboye Oyeyemi, corps marshal, disclosed this in Apapa, Lagos, on Tuesday, February 28, at a one-day sensitisation workshop for truck drivers on the minimum safety standard for trucks at the secretariat of the Association of Maritime Truck Owners, AMARTO. The programme was to usher in the full implementation of the Minimum Safety Standard for Trucks in Nigeria on Wednesday, March 1.

According to him, about 308 auto crashes were recorded between December 2016 and January 2017 due to recklessness of truck and tanker drivers. In most of the accidents, he said, the vehicles were usually written off while goods were lost.

Represented by Ojeme Ewhrudjakpor, a deputy corps marshal, Operations, Oyeyemi said the implementation of the scheme is to improve on the minimum standards already established by the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA.

He, therefore, charged truck owners to ensure compliance with the minimum standard for trucks, which includes installing speed limit devices, ensuring that containers are properly latched, proper functioning of head lights, tail lights and other parts of the trucks. He assured that engagement with operators would continue even as implementation was being carried out.

Also speaking, Folake George, president of the Corporate Fleet Owners Association, assured that truck owners were ready to comply with the safety standards by the FRSC and the NPA. She, however, lamented the duplication of transport regulatory agencies and high cost of maintenance, which make truck owners to constantly run at a loss. George also lamented that container truck owners are over-taxed compared to their contemporaries in the petroleum tanker business, who are given preferential treatments.

—  Mar 1, 2017 @ 16:50 GMT

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