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The Federal Road Safety Corps has said it will enforce a compulsory resting period of 30 minutes for tanker drivers after four hours of unbroken driving.
An agreement reached at a National summit attended in Abuja on Monday by the FRSC and the petrol tanker industry workers, said the enforcement of compulsory resting time is due to Nigeria’s road network density and length, especially in relation to dispatch of petroleum products across Nigeria.
The petrol tank drivers agreed on the need to establish standards for haulage operators through enforcement of safe-to-load program, the need to decentralize the concentration of tank farms within the same location, accessibility to Lagos, as well as closing down the illegal farms.
They also agreed that there is the need to checkmate indiscriminate parking of vehicles along the highways, set up task force to check drivers’ activities in order to decongest all port roads and ensure that all erring drivers face the wrath of law.
At the summit, the attendees agreed that Nigeria’s roads must be improved on, to get rid of potholes.
They also agreed on the construction of better road networks and elimination of illegal buildings to ease traffic flow and continuous public enlightenment by the corps.
Participants also agreed on full compliance with the Road Transport Safety Standardization Scheme provisions, implementation of the Maximum Road Speed Limiter for Vehicles to commence with subtle enforcement – with no booking – from June 1 with full compliance effective from September 1.
All haulage drivers were also advised to respect road traffic regulations and traffic officers to reduce constant conflicts on the highways.
The participants also set standard for haulage operations in Nigeria which include: more attention on vehicles’ technical wellness by haulage operators and need for the introduction of modern vehicle testing across Nigeria.
Others are establishment of age limit for trucks used for haulage purposes, comprehensive welfare package for haulage drivers by their employers – a form of motivation for adherence to road traffic rules and standardization of speed limiters installation in all newly manufactured vehicles in Nigeria.
It was also agreed that there should continuous training and retraining of drivers, renewal of petroleum tankers and other haulage vehicles the through Fleet Acquisition Renewal Scheme with collaboration with financial institutions and the urgent need for life insurance for all Nigerians so that there would be easy compensation for citizens in case of loss of lives in road crashes among others.
The drivers also recommended that state governments relocate markets away from highways as a matter of urgency and provide standard garages and rest areas.
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