The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Ondo State Command, has partnered with Gbemtan Investment Limited, a cocoa export company, to train the company’s drivers on the rules and regulations of the road.
Mr Ezekiel SonAllah, state Sector Commander of FRSC, who was represented by Mr. Busuyi Komolafe, Head of Road Transport Safety Standardisation Scheme (RTSSS), said the essence of the sensitization was to entrench the culture of road safety consciousness in the company’s drivers.
The exercise was tagged “2022 Safety Managers and Drivers Certification”.
No fewer than 25 drivers and managers were in attendance at the sensitisation.
SonAllah, who said that the exercise was a yearly activity carried out by the FRSC for registered fleet operators, explained that Gbemtan was one of the 71 registered fleet operators in the state.
The sector commander explained that there were three major factors responsible for road crashes, including human, environmental and mechanical factors, saying the human factor was 90 percent.
According to him, “from the FRSC findings, we discovered that the rate of road crashes on Nigeria highways was very alarming and on the high side.
“Out of 100 per cent of road crashes, human factor takes 90 per cent, and out of 90 per cent, drivers contribute 80 per cent through failure to obey rules and regulations of the road, speeding, drinking while driving, among others.
“We now discovered that if we can train them, (drivers) and they have the FRSC mission and vision with them and keying into the corps system, the road will be safe for everybody”.
The sector commander, who certified safety managers and drivers of Gbemtan Investment Limited, called on persons, organizations, companies, academic institutions, government departments, and agencies engaging in transport services or others, with at least five vehicles in their fleet, to register.
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“You are hereby encouraged to register free under RTSSS in order to entrench a culture of safety consciousness and check the excess which often leads to loss of lives and property,” he said.
Earlier, Mr Muftau Abolarinwa, Managing Director of Gbemtan Investment Limited, said the company was collaborating with the FRSC to know better on-road use.
Abolarinwa, who was represented by the company’s Internal Control Manager, Mr. Olayemi Olajebo, said that the sensitization would add value to the drivers, staff, and the company as a whole.
According to Abolarinwa, “when we know road signs and the laws that govern the road, you will realize that a lot of accidents will be reduced to the minimum.
“As a company that is into cocoa export, we have a lot of drivers that travel around to bring products to us and they encounter a lot of things on the road, which sometimes lead to calling the company that they have been arrested by the FRSC or other road safety agents.
“But at the end of the day, we realised that all these drivers were not well informed about road signs and laws that guide them. That is why we organised this training for us to know better.
“So, it will add value to everybody, both the staff and drivers; it will even reduce the money we spend on our trucks, because if you know how to use a vehicle well, it will reduce all unnecessary expenses on our trucks,” he said.
Also, Mr. Ibrahim Saliu, the company’s Senior Driver, appreciated the FRSC for the gesture, saying the drivers would adhere to all the knowledge passed upon them by the operatives of FRSC.
Saliu, who said that the lecture would be an added advantage to members of the company, especially drivers, said many of them were driving without knowing when and where to overtake or not, and when they were on strange roads.
“I am appealing to my other colleagues to memorize all the lectures very well because there was a problem some time ago, and it was due to lack of knowledge then that made it happen,” he said
