APC in diaspora seeks stiffer penalty for reckless articulated vehicle owners, drivers

THE Diaspora chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC), on Tuesday, urged Lagos State House of Assembly to enunciate stiffer penalties for heavy-duty vehicles that contravene the state’s traffic rules.

Spokesman of the APC Diaspora Chairmen Forum, Mr Lawal Ayoola, told newsmen in Lagos that the only way to curb the excesses of heavy-duty truck drivers in the state was by impounding their vehicles and prosecuting them.

Ayoola, who is Chairman of APC in Scandinavia, spoke at the backdrop of Saturday oil truck explosion on Otedola Bridge, along Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, which claimed many lives and property.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that on Sunday, after the incident, Lagos State Government announced the restriction of movement of fuel tankers to designated routes in the state.

The government also said that it had become mandatory for all articulated trucks going into Lagos to obtain the Ministry of Transportation’s Road Worthiness Certificate within 30 days.

But, Ayoola, who is also an Executive of Road Safety for Africa (ROSAFA) Initiative, urged the government to impound all heavy-duty vehicles parked indiscriminately on Lagos roads, especially the ones on bridges and major ways.

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He deplored the culture in Nigeria, of not securing containers and tanks firmly to vehicles and the reckless driving by long vehicle drivers.

“The regulatory and enforcement authorities have a lot of work to do.

“They should intensify efforts at ensuring that vehicles are truly road-worthy before they are certified fit to ply roads in order to ensure safety on such roads.

“Furthermore, holistic Act regarding heavy-duty trucks and tankers could be enacted to back the regulatory and enforcement authorities on safety.

“In addition, we should strive as a nation, to avoid such catastrophic incident and when it is beyond us, perhaps due to mechanical failures, we should put mechanisms in place to prevent reoccurrence.

“This is not the first time such a terrible accident is happening on this axis of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

“With the current situation of the country, we can only hope that further measures will be speedily taken to ensure that such accidents are brought to the barest minimum in the future,” he said.