By Yahaya Isah
The Directorate of Road Traffic Services (DRTS) FCT, says it will partner UT-PRON, an affiliate of National Environmental Standards Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) to reduce cases of accidents in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The partnership is part of efforts to reduce accidents which can be traced majorly to faculty motor vehicle tyres.
This is contained in a statement by the Head, Public Relations and Enlightenment of DRTS, Mr Kalu Emetu on Monday in Abuja.
According to him, the directorate went into partnership with UT-PRON and other environmental agencies when they paid a courtesy visit to the Director of DRTS, Dr Abdul-Lateef Bello, on Monday in Abuja.
The leader of the group, Mr William Nwoye, said the partnership is necessary towards organising the National Tyre Safety Week, scheduled for the third week of November.
He explained that the mandate of his group is to collect and manage tyres not roadworthy in the operations of the DRTS, classified by the Federal Standard as End-Life of Tyres (ELT).
This, according to him are tyres seized by road traffic personnel for being in bad conditions to ensure safety on the roads.
Nwoye further stated that through the recovery of such ELT tyres, his organisation would generate data and report on the number of ELT recovered by DRTS and other agencies.
This, he said, included private organisations which would go a long way in reducing accidents on Nigerian roads, especially in the FCT.
The leader of the group further advocated for the marking of ELT tyres still operating on the public roads, for the commuters and other members of the public to be warned.
Nwoye said the marking of the ELT tyres were the safety concern and part of UT-PRON social responsibility, adding that vehicles with bad tyres were just like “Caskets on Wheels”.
He commended DRTS for its efforts towards making the traffic in the FCT a seamless one, urging for sustainability for safety of lives.
Earlier, the director of DRTS thanked his visitors and for coming up with a beautiful initiative that would contribute in no small measures to reducing accidents on FCT roads.
Bello said that expired tyres contribute much to the number of road accidents experienced across the country.
The director told his visitors that the directorate is very friendly and had continued to encourage motorists to feel free to transact their lawful businesses without any fear or favour.
“I advise you; report any staff who fails to perform his or her duty professionally to the directorate for disciplinary actions.
“The levels at which inspection of vehicles is done in the nation’s capital is that, tyres that are road worthy are detected and the ones that are not are also found out.
“Hence explanations are issued to the owners and the need for them to avoid its continued usage considering the dangers they pose to the users of the vehicle and the commuters alike.
“I’m not comfortable with the idea of retrieving tyres or marking them as the owners may’’ still put them to other uses. A team is to be constituted to look at how it can be handled.
Bello explained some of the successes recorded by the service to the visitors, “especially in the area of Information Technology which had made it possible for people to access its services at the comfort of their homes or offices,” he said.
He said this was achieved during the lockdown in 2020 as a result of COVID-19 pandemic which drastically reduced human interference in most of the services of the directorate.
“The same feat is about to be achieved on traffic monitoring where Artificial Intelligence (AI) cameras will soon be picking up every traffic infraction.
“Thereby, removing our personnel from the road to monitor traffic offenders, exactly the way it is done in most advanced countries of the world. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)
Edited by Gregg Mmaduakolam/Julius Toba-Jegede
