By Sani Idris
Sector Commander of Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Kaduna Sector Command, Mr Hafiz Muhammad, on Saturday admonished commercial vehicle passengers to imbibe the culture of ‘collective driving’ while on transit.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that ‘collective driving’ entails passengers checking the excesses of drivers by ensuring that the latter did not violate road traffic rules while on transit.
Making the call in an interview with NAN in Kaduna, the Commander said violations such as excessive speeding, overtaking in sharp bends and over-loading, could be checked effectively by passengers to ensure their safety.
According to him, the above mentioned violations are responsible for a substantial percentage of accidents on the highways, adding that passengers are in the right position to call such defaulting drivers to order.
He reminded passengers that ensuring their safety while on the road was first and foremost, their responsibility, and not that of the driver alone.
“There are road traffic crashes resulting from drivers carelessness or recklessness such as , overloading, over-speeding, and overtaking in sharp bends, among others.
“It behoves on the passengers in the vehicle to call the driver to order if, for example, he is speeding beyond a prescribed limit of a particular road, overtaking dangerously, and engaging in other acts of reckless driving.
“By doing so, passengers are assisting the driver to ensure their safety on the highway, and are by extension, engaged in collective driving,” he stressed.
He lamented that most times, passengers adopted passive attitude, and worst still, vented their spleen on few who tried to bring such erring drivers to order.
“Unfortunately, most passengers are passive while on board commercial vehicles, keeping quiet even when drivers glaringly ‘gamble’ with their lives.
“I do not see any rationale behind passengers in a vehicle seeing a driver compromising their safety, yet they cannot caution him,” he fumed.
Muhammad expressed optimism that if majority of passengers were to play their roles while on transit, there would be drastic reduction in automobile accidents on the highways.
He said while authorities vested with the responsibility of ensuring safety on the highways were doing their best, their efforts must be complemented as they could not be ‘every where at all times’.
“The offenders we penalise are the ones we see and apprehend in the course of the act; most of the violations are committed in the ‘absence’ of road traffic rules enforcers, but in the full ‘glare’ of passengers.
“Although the passengers may not be Special Marshalls of FRSC, they can play that role through ‘collective driving’ while on transit, to guarantee their safety,” he admonished.
NAN reports that the advice of the Sector Commander is coming barely two days after a ghastly automobile accident on a highway in Bagauda village of Kano state that claimed 19 lives.
The crash, which occurred on Thursday, involved two commercial buses that collided head-on, and caught fire instantly.
FRSC, Kano Sector Command, attributed the crash to excessive speed and dangerous driving. (NAN)
