Fashola Seeks Stiffer Punishment for Road Traffic Offenders

Damilola Oyedele

The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, has urged the National Assembly to prescribe stiffer punishment for road traffic offenders for deterrence and correction.

The minister suggested community service, compulsory re-training and re-certification under supervision, and psychiatric evaluation for traffic offenders.

Fashola said these at a public hearing by the House of Representatives Committee on Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) on a Bill for an Act to Amend the FRSC Act 2004, to prescribe certain traffic offences and their penalties and for other matters connected therewith 2015, and a motion on non-enforcement of the conditions for the establishment of registration and operation of driving schools by the FRSC, yesterday.

The minister appeared at the hearing to speak on the state of the roads, and construction of pedestrian bridges.

Jail terms and fines do not necessarily serve as deterrence or correct offenders, Fashola said, adding that it was necessary that they suffer some level of inconvenience, as has been adopted in Lagos State Traffic Laws.

“The magistrate can sentence them to community service, like cutting grass in public, and they will be put on video, and can even be put on television,” he said.

Fashola also advised that road users who refuse to use pedestrian bridges where they are available, should be liable to punishment, as they not only endanger themselves, but other road users.

“Penalties seem to focus on custodial and pecuniary which have existed for a while and have not caused reductions. Perhaps parliament can be a little more daring,” he said.

Emphasising on the need for the insistence on certification by driving schools, Fashola noted that the responsibility of its administration should be shared by the states and local governments.

“The reason is simple: where would the FRSC ever get the capacity to do it, maintain a driving school in each local government of the country?...An automobile is not a toy, it is a machine, and you must be trained to use it. But we have neglected the training part, now almost anyone can get into a car, shuffle a few things, and get onto the highway,” he said.

Speaking earlier, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, lamented that Nigeria has one of the highest fatalities in Africa, with 33.7 deaths per 100,000 population annually, making it the third highest cause of death in the country.

“Road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death among young people aged 15 to 29 years.

Approximately 77 per cent of all road traffic deaths occur among young males under the age of 25 and they are almost three times as likely to be killed in a car crash compared to young females,” he said.

The amendment to the bill sponsored by Hon. Jagaba Adams Jagaba (Kaduna APC) proposes to include six offences to the existing 36.