FRSC writes Toyota over high rate of crashes

Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps, Osita Chidoka, said on Wednesday that he had written to the Managing Director of Toyota Nigeria Limited over high frequency of crashes involving Toyota buses, especially the Hiace brand.

Chidoka said extensive investigations and analysis of commuter vehicles carried out by the FRSC between 2007-2012, showed that Toyota Hiace buses were involved in 1,844 accidents.

He said 31 percent of bus accidents within the period also resulted in fire incidents.

The FRSC boss, who spoke at a sensitisation programme on speed limiting devices in Abuja, stressed that the situation was unacceptable to his organisation.

He said the study indicated that road traffic crashes involving buses had been on the increase since 2007 and that available data showed an average yearly increase of 126 crashes involving Toyota Hiace buses, representing 48 per cent of the total number of buses involved in accidents.

He noted that Nigeria started recording high Toyota Hiace crashes in August 2010.

“It is on record that Toyota Hiace YH3 buses were recalled in Australia as a result of fire in 1990 and recently in 2012. The 1990 safety recall closed August 26, 2010, the period Nigeria started recording high Toyota Hiace crashes involving fire incidents. The corps has therefore written to the Managing Director of Toyota to bring this menace to their attention,” he said.

The Corps Marshall advised commercial bus owners to install speed limiting devices in their vehicles and obey stipulated speed limits while plying the roads.

Chidoka said the FRSC had also written to the management of Young Shall Grow Motors over the frequent involvement of their buses in crashes, saying the company’s buses were involved in 32 crashes which resulted in 71 deaths and 93 injuries between January 2012 and June 2013.

He said that the FRSC was carrying out a full audit of safety processes of the transport company, spanning its drivers, vehicles, and company policies to ascertain their compliance with minimum safety standards.

The FRSC, Chidoka said, was collecting data on another transport firm, Peace Mass Transit, and would also conduct safety audit on the company.

He noted that the PMT and the ABC transport company had voluntarily commenced the installation of speed limiters, which he described as an effective means of preventing speed violation and resultant consequences, in their buses.

Secretary to Government of the Federation, Senator Pius Anyim said there was a need to work together to stop speed violation by motorists, adding that the Federal Government believed that speed limiting devices in commercial vehicles and trucks would reduce road crashes in the country.

Source: Punch