Psychiatric test for traffic law offenders begin July 1

The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has said that it will resume enforcement of
psychiatric tests on traffic law offenders in the country with effect from July 1.

According to Bisi Kazeem, FRSC ‘s Corps
Public Education Officer, in a press release
in Abuja today , Corps Marshal, Dr Boboye
Oyeyemi, stated this at the opening of a
five-day training programme for 22 FRSC
officials on traffic safety for non-motorised
transportation (NMT) in Abuja on Monday.
Oyeyemi said the test would focus on four
areas of violations namely, use of phone
while driving, traffic light and route
violations as well as dangerous driving.
The move, according to him, is necessitated
by continued violations in the identified
four areas despite efforts by the Corps to
change the behaviour of motorists through
education and enforcement.
“We are worried about the
continuous use of phone while
driving, traffic light violations, route
violations and dangerous driving.
“I have invited the commanding
officers for a strategic session on
Friday.
“We will give them full directives to
resume the referral of all these class
of offenders to various government
hospitals for check of their mental
state.
“I think it is an act of irresponsibility
for somebody to be driving and be
using phone or for a traffic light to
stop you and you are jumping the
line.
“It means something is wrong with
your mental faculty. So, there is need
to examine this, to really check
whether you are fit to drive, whether
you have the mental capability.’’
“ Fine is not the issue; the issue is we
need a positive attitudinal change of
Nigeria.
“We cannot continue to be having
fatal crashes due to traffic light
violations, people jumping the traffic
lights, I think it is crass
irresponsibility.
Oyeyemi said that offenders would bear the
cost of the test in addition to paying the
stipulated fines.
He stated that the FRSC was empowered by
its enabling act to undertake the proposed
psychiatric examination.
“The Act (FRSC Establishment Act) is
very clear on this. You can challenge
it. People have been challenging the
act, and that is the beauty of
democracy.
“You can challenge it if you want to.
For you to have a drivers license, you
must go for medical test.
“So, I can refer you back for medical
check. What I am asking you to do is
to go back for rechecking whether
you are actually fit for driving, simple.
It is very clear.
“The offender will bear the cost.
When they confirm that he is fit, then
he will go for retraining programme
and pay the fine.’’
The Corps Marshall said the NMT training
programme, which is sponsored by the
Government of Netherlands through its
embassy in Nigeria, was pursuant to corps’
determination to mainstream non-
motorised transportation in the country.
Non-motorised transportation includes
walking, bicycling, skating, wheelchair
travel and other forms of human powered
transportation.
Oyeyemi said that besides reducing
accidents, bicycling promotes clean urban
transportation and physical fitness. He said
the FRSC had been in the forefront of the
campaign for cycling as a means of
transportation in the country over the
years.
According to him, the corps has developed
working documents, built collaborations
with other stakeholders and rolled out
several programmes including the National
Bicycle Week as part of its advocacy.
He said the NMT training programme,
which is being sponsored by the
Government of Netherlands through its
embassy in Nigeria, was in furtherance of
the corps’ efforts.
He explained that the training would
improve the knowledge of FRSC personnel
on NMT to enhance the agency’s advocacy
and adaptation to safety for this mode of
transportation.
“This is a certainty to propel
attainment of the goals of the United
Nations Decade of Action for Road
Safety aimed at reducing road
crashes and fatalities to 50 per cent
by 2020.
“We need to promote this form of
transportation because talking about
climate change, Nigeria is signatory
to the Paris Accord.
“So, we need to reduce greenhouse
effects through control of emission
control, and this is one of the ways
to.
“There is no reason why I cannot
ride bicycle from my house to the
office which I will be doing once in a
while. We should ride our bicycles
which is another form of exercise,’’
he said.
The Dutch embassy is providing both the
financial and technical support for the
training, which is divided into two phases.
Under the first phase, eight middle level
officers of the FRSC underwent a week
training on NMT in Netherlands between
May 28 and June 3.
The second phase, which the Corps Marshal
declared open the FRSC headquarters in
Abuja on Monday, was enlarged with
additional 15 participants.

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