FRSC warns road users, impounds rickety vehicles

Posted by admin Ebonyi, Headlines, State News Sunday, December 18th, 2011

Ebonyi State Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Chidi Ede has said that his command will make road users have an accident- free period during the Christmas.

Worried about the influx of rickety vehicles, he directed that all rickety vehicles would be impounded by his men on patrol during the yuletide as the corps would not spare any traffic offender despite his position in government:

“We don’t have any distinction or selective in arresting people, Governor is a special Marshall and the patron and we arrest anybody who flouts the law. There is no distinction because life or death don’t select or say it must be this person or the other person, it can happen to anybody. If the person is from Governor’s Office or governor’s desk, he is supposed to tell the magistrate working for the state.”
“The bottom line of the whole thing is that we don’t discriminate.

You know some people carry their office along, even the officers of the corps or police or any other police officer will tell you I am a police officer, when asked to produce his ID card he will say it is not there; how do you think we will operate and these are the people who say the FRSC is not doing anything. Our job cuts across; if we see a police officer without a helmet we arrest you.

It is only those people who don’t want to obey the traffic rule will continue to complain and they are not ready to change and this is the only thing that can change them. If it is regular patrol they will have problem but if it is a court the magistrate has all the discretion of either to pay the fine or both.”

Ede gave the explanation during the Corps mobile court patrol in Abakaliki yesterday where no fewer than 79 traffic offenders were apprehended and convicted for various offences ranging from making calls while driving, seat belt violation, absence of fire extinguisher and overloading.

He said that the mobile court is just like a special patrol to prepare the mind of motoring public in Ebonyi State about all the rickety vehicles which were all supposed to be off the road, pointing out that they should be taken to mechanic shops for real maintenance to make them road worthy, “and since the Christmas is around, we feel that if we don’t start checking these things closely, some vehicles have been in mechanic village for a long time or parked in a car garages of individual homes they bring them out for charter and that is another booby trap for the people who want to enjoy Christmas and New-Year.

“We have apprehended up to 79 offenders and I got to understand from the magistrate that two have been discharged and acquitted on merit and it is being treated here not going to the bank and part of this money should go to the coffer of the state government which is in the character of the FRSC that the hosting state; we will help them in internal revenue generation by some of these little patrol strategy.”

-Sunwp_posts