Senate seeks arrest; prosecution of rickety trucks on highways

The Senate on Tuesday urged the Nigeria Police Force, the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIOs) to clamp down on truck and Lorries plying federal highways without the minimum prescribed levels of lighting or road safety requirements.

The Upper Chamber also mandated its Committee on Federal Character and Inter-Governmental Affairs to investigate the level of compliance to road safety legislations among haulage operators, owners and drivers, as well as the implementation of the recommendations from the 2018 haulage Operators Stakeholders’ summit.

It also decried the loss of over 2000 persons and destruction of properties worth billions through truck accidents between 2017 and 2018.

The resolution of the Upper Chamber was sequel to the consideration of a motion sponsored by Senator Teslim Folarin (Oyo Central).

Senator Folarin in his motion titled: “Urgent need to reduce accidents involving Trucks and Articulated Lorries (Tankers and Trailers) on our Highways” lamented that rising cases of road traffic crashes involving articulated vehicles.

He urged his colleagues to be disturbed that in 2017, there were 779 recorded Road Traffic Collisions (RTC) involving trailers and tankers, which resulted in 737 fatalities and 2622 serious injuries.

He added: “In 2018, over one thousand lives and an estimated N39 billion were lost directly due to accidents involving trucks and articulated Lorries.

“That implies that an average of two Nigerians was killed every day and seven seriously injured in 2017 as a result of trailer/tanker accidents.

These accidents accounted for 28% of road accidents in Nigeria, which is grossly disproportionate to the percentage of trailers and trucks plying our roads.”

He insisted that despite statutory provisions empowering the Nigerian Police, the FRSC and VIOs to curb the menace, the problem persists.