The upward spiral of accidents on Nigeria roads has been a sore point in our national life. In this report, FRANCIS IGATA writes on the efforts of Peace Mass Transit,PMT, in partnership with the Federal Road Safety Corp,FRSC, to halt the burgeoning rate of accidents and instill high standard in the company’s drivers.

From empirical statistics globally, it has been adduced that road accidents are the fourth leading causes of deaths.

In Nigeria, the poor transport infrastructure in the country has over stretched the land transport system which is responsible for the movement of over 70 million Nigerians to their various destination.

Recently, a leading land transport company in Nigeria, Peace Mass Transit,PMT, organized a one-week training exercise for its 4,000 drivers in the company’s fleet at the company’s headquarters, No 2, Destiny Layout, Emene,Enugu.

Peace Mass Transit, a subsidiary of Peace Group Limited, founded in the year 1995, could be regarded as a “national career” in terms of land transport, as it moves over 45 million Nigerians around the six geopolitical zones of the country annually.

With regular staff strength of over 4,000, the company operates motor parks in 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory.

Primed to ensure and maintain safety on roads, PMT, recently in collaboration with FRSC, embarked on its third quarterly training of the company drivers.

Tagged: “Safety Consciousness as a habit,” the training serves as a continuous reminder to drivers on the inherent need to imbibe high safety driving standards while plying the highways.

Declaring the exercise open, the Sector Commander, FRSC, Enugu, Corps Commander, Abayomi Olawoyin represented by Assistant Corps Commander, Rose Anosike, noted that,”FRSC has a vision of making roads safe in Nigeria. Road Transportation plays a very important role in the socio-economic development of Nigeria, but like other developing economies of the world,the national efforts of economic development are being thwarted by threats of road traffic crashes, most of which are caused by human factor.

”Road crashes and fatalities have become a common sight on our highways and cities. The waste of human and material values which generally characterizes accidents may constitute a great deal of problems/concern to the employer.

”Road safety you will agree with me is a shared responsibility better achieved when all the key group share a culture of road safety. Road users must take responsibility for complying with traffic laws and engaging in safe road behaviors/culture. Unfortunately, this level of commitment is yet to be achieved.

”Accidents are predictable, and very few indeed are the fault of either the road or the vehicle, in most cases, it has been found that the causes of the road traffic crashes was due to ‘human error’ or in other words, ‘the driver failed to cope with situation which confronted him’.”

She however revealed that the aim of the training therefore is to enable PMT drivers to drive to such acceptable standard that they cannot be criticized or faulted by others and that their methods of driving will set an example and gain the respect and cooperation of other drivers and the general public.

”In addition to driving to high standard, PMT drivers at the end of this training,must exercise restraint, patience, tolerance,discipline and show consideration towards other road users and most importantly drive at all times to the recommendations of Highway Code” said the Sector Commander.

Responding, the Managing Director/CEO, Peace Group, Dr. Samuel Onyishi, maintained that,”the company is determined to ensure the safety of its passengers as a leading transport company in the country.

”We equally have an in-house safety department that ensures the continuous training and re-training of our drivers.

”We are bent on eliminating the human factors in road crashes among our drivers. We will continue to remind our drivers on the need to imbibe these driving ethics so that safety consciousness will always be in them. Said Onyishi”

He maintained that PMT is the first mass transit company to introduce Speed Control Device,SCD, in all its mini-vans in 2009 even as he expressed gladness over the partnership with FRSC which has placed the company on a pedestal of safety.

In his remarks, the General Manager, PMT, Mr. Sylvanus Ozioko, assured its teeming customers of the company’s readiness to sustain the quarterly training of its drivers which will ultimately lead to drastic reduction of carnages on our roads.