Corps Marshal and Chief Executive of the Federal Road Safety Corps, Boboye Oyeyemi goes tough on drivers without speed limiters
Unless something happens, www.odogwublog.com reports that the Corps Marshall and Chief Executive of the Federal Road Safety Corps, Boboye
Oyeyemi will at the end of the grace period 31st May, 2015 embark on enforcement of speed limiters by June 1st, 2015. See details
STILL
ON THE SPEED LIMITERS
The World Health Organization (WHO) in one of its
researches conducted in 2004, pointed out that the most vulnerable age group in
the event of a road traffic crash are children within the age bracket of 5-14
years and adults of the age 18-49 years, thus making Road Traffic Crashes (RTC)
one of the leading causes of death globally.
Of the total of 10, 380 road traffic
crashes recorded in Nigeria in 2014, a total of 5,996 lives were lost, while
32,063 people were injured. The scourge has left in its wake the loss of wage
earners, active workforce, loved ones and future leaders, all of which subject
families to extreme poverty and the nation, erosion of its bright future.
Speaking
at a recent joint press conference with major stakeholders in the transport
sector, the Corps Marshal and Chief Executive of the Federal Road Safety Corps,
Boboye Oyeyemi had identified excessive speed as being responsible for 50.8% of
road traffic crashes which occurred across the country in 2014.
His
presentation also grouped loss of control, tyre burst and dangerous driving which
are directly linked to excessive speeding, as major contributive factors to
road crashes recorded within the same period thus pointing to speed limit
violation as a predominant challenge to collective efforts by government
agencies and non-governmental organizations to stem the tide of avoidable
crashes on the highways.
The
issue of speed has been identified by WHO as a key risk factor in road
traffic injuries, influencing both the risk of a crash as well as the
severity of the injuries that result from crashes. In fact, WHO and the Global
Road Safety Partnership, in its publication, Speed Management: a Road Safety Manual for Decision Makers and
Practitioners recommended that speed limits be introduced in every country
as part of the global strategy to cut down road fatalities.
Buoyed
by this scenario, the FRSC convened a one day stakeholders’ forum in Abuja and
Lagos on speed limiting devices, with Leon Du Plessis, an expert on vehicle
speed limiting device from South Africa, as guest speaker with other
stakeholders in the transport sector in attendance.
As the nation’s lead agency for road safety
management and traffic administration, the FRSC had opined that the meeting was
necessitated by the need to intimate the public, drivers and fleet operators on
the importance of speed limiting device in vehicles as a means of achieving
safe driving on our roads. In addition to this engagement plan, motorized rallies
are lined up with transport operators as part of measures to deepen awareness
on this initiative. It also noted that by slowing down vehicles, the travel
risk for all motorists may be lowered by reducing the number of collisions and
mitigating the severity of those that do occur as prescribed by the National
Road Traffic Regulations 2012 which specifies the speed limits allowed on our
roads for different categories of vehicles.
It
was therefore a major boost to this initiative when last year, the Governing
Council of the Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON) approved specifications
for speed limiters to be used by vehicles in the country.
What
is excessive speed? Excessive speed is defined as exceeding the recommended
speed limit, while inappropriate speed is defined as driving at a speed
unsuitable for the prevailing road and traffic conditions. Excessive and
inappropriate speeds are responsible for a high proportion of the mortality and
morbidity that result from road crashes.
In some low and middle income countries, speed is estimated to be the main contributory factor in about 50 per cent of all crashes. Excessive speeding decreases driver’s response time in an emergency and may increase the risk of a crash. It equally reduces his ability to manoeuvre safely on the road, extends the distance necessary to stop a vehicle. This is because, the higher the speed of a vehicle, the shorter the time a driver has to stop and avoid a crash. For example, a car travelling at 50km/hr will typically require 1 meter in which to stop, while a car travelling at 40km/hr will stop in less than 8.5 metres. An increase in average speed of 1km/hr typically results in a 3 per cent higher risk of a crash involving injury, with a 4 to 5 per cent increase for crashes that result in fatalities. Speed also contributes to the severity of the impact when a collision does occur. For car occupants in a crash with an impact speed of 80km/hr, the likelihood of death is 20 times what it would have been at an impact speed of 30km/hr.
The relationship between speed and injury severity is particularly critical for vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and cyclists. For example, pedestrians have been shown to have a 90 per cent chance of survival when struck by a car travelling at 30km/hr or below, but less than zero per cent chance of surviving an impact at 45km/hr. Pedestrians have almost no chance of surviving an impact of 80km/hr. What this means is that controlling vehicle speed can prevent crashes from happening and can reduce the impact when they do occur, lessening the severity of injuries sustained by the victims.
The use of speed limiters in Europe and Great Britain dates back to February, 1992 when a Council directive 62/6/EEC required speed limiters to be fitted in certain categories of vehicles. By November, 2002, the European Parliament and the Council Directive 2002/85/EC extended the range of vehicles to be fitted, while in January 2007, it was extended to more categories of vehicles. Within Africa, Tanzania and Kenya followed suit in 2003, while Uganda in 2004, Zambia in 2006 and Ontario and Quebec took their turns in 2009.
Aside
from reducing injuries and fatalities and probable dent to vehicles, scientific
proof indicates that adherence to speed limit regulations also reduces fuel
consumption of vehicles.
According to the Canadian Department
of Transport, there are environmental, safety and cost benefits. For
example, lower fuel consumption reduces greenhouse gas emissions and saves money
on fuel consumption. A study on Ontario Canada showed that fixing speed
limiters to all heavy duty trucks would save about 100 million litres of fuel a
year (the equivalent of 280,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions). The study
further shows that the risk of collision is reduced when driving at lower
speeds while safety of road users is assured. Driving at higher speed induces
major stress that results in driver fatigue and loss of concentration.
Installing speed limiters will reduce the operating costs of many transporters
by reducing fuel consumption and increasing vehicle energy efficiency.
In 1974, the US Congress imposed a nationwide
55 mph (89 km/h) speed limit on all vehicles - it was estimated that a speed of
55 mph used 17% less fuel per mile than a speed of 75 mph.
As the FRSC intensifies on-going
advocacy on the relevance of the speed limiters as build up to the nationwide
enforcement which will commence on 1st June 2015, It is expected
that all hands must be on deck to achieve this goal of addressing the
challenges posed by speed-induced road traffic crashes in the country.
OHAERI OSONDU. J
Media Officer
Corps Public Education Office
Federal Road Safety Corps, Abuja
Corps Marshal and Chief Executive of the Federal Road Safety Corps, Boboye Oyeyemi goes tough on drivers without speed limiters
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Thursday, April 23, 2015
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