Nigeria is mourning the death of one of her illustrious sons, the Honorable Minister of State for Labour and Productivity, Mr. James Ocholi (SAN) who died together with his son and wife in a ghastly motor crash. The accident is reported to have happened as a result of a burst tyre and high speed, a combination that impaired the capacity of the driver to steer the vehicle to safety. The case of late Mr. Ocholi is not an isolated one neither is it one that is selective in terms of personalities. Nigerians in their thousands lose their lives to preventable accidents which we usually blame on bad roads but which really are more as a result of high speed. This is why the enforcement of speed limit through the use of a speed limiting device is an absolute emergency and should be made compulsory.
A speed limiter or speed-limiting device is used to check the speed of a vehicle by disallowing it the ability to accelerate beyond pre-set speed limit. Apart from safety reasons, the speed limiter has socio-economic advantages one of which is obviously the preservation of road users from deaths and maiming associated with speed induced crashes. The speed limiter will also assist individuals and businesses to save costs on maintenance, fuel consumption, and slow down depreciation.
The Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) has, in Act establishing it, the regulation on compulsory use of speed limiting device on vehicles in Nigeria. This regulation has been also in the National Road Traffic Regulation (NRTR,B173-B303) of 2004, Part Vll –Use and Construction, Section 53,sub -section (6), Part Vlll – Driving, Section 79 Sub-section(a) and others are all explicit on the issue of compulsory use of speed limiters by motorists.
Speed is a key risk factor in road traffic accidents with high influence on rates and severity of crashes and consequent injuries and fatalities. At high speed, a driver’s response time is unduly increased resulting in low ability to steer out of danger on the road while also extending distance required to stop a vehicle. This extension also increases risk of somersaults and collision with stationery objects.
Moreover speed limiters will engender compliance with the ECOWAS mandate, fulfillment of the Corps statutory functions through good practice. Enforcing the use of speed limiter is engendering of world best practice in driving, sanitize our roads and put our road users on good behaviour. Old strategies such as drivers’ education, provision of speed calming measures in the design and construction of roads have not had the desired impact neither has our bad roads, which should naturally provide speed breakers. The next best thing would therefore be the compulsory installation of speed limiters that would limit inappropriate speeding. Inappropriate speed means driving at a speed unsuitable for prevailing conditions of road and traffic.
In our opinion the idea of speed limiters is long overdue in our society especially as we seem oblivious of the dangers on our roads. The SUVs and luxury cars do not have the perfect mechanism to protect us against maiming and deaths but we can help ourselves by complying with the provisions made available to us.
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