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Tackling Menace Of Unlatched Containers, Tanker Drivers

By Gbenga Salau
05 July 2015   |   2:48 am
LAST WEEK, one of the unlatched containers dangerously placed on an articulated vehicle fell on a commercial bus at Ilishan, Ogun State, killing 12 people, 11 of them students of Olabisi Onabanjo University, (OOU) and the driver of the bus.

Tanker-fire--CopyTruck-2-CopyLAST WEEK, one of the unlatched containers dangerously placed on an articulated vehicle fell on a commercial bus at Ilishan, Ogun State, killing 12 people, 11 of them students of Olabisi Onabanjo University, (OOU) and the driver of the bus.

With the incident, the dreams and aspirations of the students and others were cut short. Their likely contributions to the growth and development of their families, communities and, nay, Nigeria were also terminated.

While the parents and relatives of the deceased are still grieving, lamenting what had befallen them, students of OOU are expressing their anger over the incident in different forms.

Ironically, this is not the first time such accident would result in a high number of fatalities. On most occasions, when an accident like this happens, there is public outcry, but after few days, life returns to normal with no concrete steps to prevent a reoccurrence with the regulatory agencies making sure that compliance to safety and traffic rules is enforced. If there are steps to forestall a reoccurrence, it is usually mouthed.

Statistics on road accidents is alarming and findings have shown that human factors are a major contributor to this crisis. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), Nigeria is the most dangerous country in Africa with 33.7 deaths per 100,000 populations (road accidents) every year, implying that one in every four-road accident deaths in Africa occurs in Nigeria.

Experts have categorised the causes of road accidents in Nigeria into human, mechanical, and environmental factors, disclosing that human factor is responsible for about 90 per cent of the accidents, with mechanical and environmental factors accounting for 10 per cent.

An Information Retrieval Specialist at Nigeria Watch, Vitus Ukoji, in his paper, Trends and patterns of fatal road accidents in Nigeria disclosed that between 2006 and 2013, the FRSC recorded 41,118 deaths from road accidents, while Nigeria Watch recorded 14,300 within the same period. He noted that the Nigeria Watch figure is lower because its records only cater for accidents that involve at least one death and those reported.

However, relying on the breakdown of data provided by Nigeria Watch, he said that there were 833 fatal crashes involving lorries and trucks.

A table by the FRSC on the causes of tankers cum trailers accidents between 2007 and 2010 reported 4,017 cases, listing the causes to include: obstruction, speed violation, mechanically deficient vehicle, overloading violation, dangerous overtaking, loss of control, route violation, driving under the influence of alcohol and drug and wrong overtaking.

The table also provided the contributions of each of these causes, disclosing that dangerous driving and speed violation by tanker and trailer drivers are the major causes of accidents on Nigerian roads.

In an interview with The Guardian, the President, Association of Truck Owners, Chief Remi Ogungbemi, said that in every accident, human error cannot be totally ruled out. He however listed other contributors to include the condition of the roads, the state of mind of some of the truck drivers, especially within Lagos.

“Most of the drivers are driving under fear and anxiety, as a result of the hostile environment under which they operate.” According to him, the intimidating attitude of the traffic regulators is a factor.

“The situation, especially within the port environment, has created so many abnormalities with the traffic regulators capitalising on the situation to extort money, making the environment more hostile. What we are experiencing is like a cat and rat game.”

He said fatigue is also a factor especially those that operate in the ports either as dry or wet cargo carriers. “When I say wet cargo carriers, I mean petroleum tankers and dry to mean containerised or other general goods trucks. They queue for several days waiting to drop their containers or load them. And within those days, they cannot eat and sleep well and probably did not take their bath. So, how do you expect such a person to behave normal?”

He further stated that because of the harsh and poorly regulated environment, young and immature persons now drive most of the trucks, because the matured ones do not have the strength to face the operational challenges within the system.

“You can imagine somebody on the steering for two to five days. The married ones cannot afford to leave their families behind to go on long trips. So most of them have abandoned long trips to the young and immature drivers.”

Ogungbemi said that the relationship between the drivers and the traffic regulators is unhealthy as they see the truck drivers as means to augment their salaries. “And no truck driver could be free from traffic offence as far as traffic regulations is concerned.

“God gave us only 10 laws, yet some of us are breaking them, but as far as traffic regulations is concerned, there are over 100 laws, so how is it possible not to break one.”

On the claim by some stakeholders that indiscipline and bad state of the vehicles are responsible for accidents, he said; “Even if you buy a new truck worth N30 to N40million, can you afford to put it on the roads that have become death traps? Don’t you see the rate at which the containers are falling? Even the banks will not give loans to buy trucks because of the condition of the roads, which are terribly bad.”

Ogungbemi also feels that the roads can no longer accommodate the volume of activities, which is why the commotion and collission are happening daily.

“Roads that should not accommodate more than 20,000 trucks, about 200,000 trucks ply them at the same time. These are same roads we have been using in the last 40 years; we do not expect them to accommodate increased activities with population growth, increased vehicular and business activities.

Suggesting the way forward, he said that there cannot be sanity without putting the necessary infrastructure in place.

“For example, in the ports, there are truck parks, but had been taken over by other business activities. This is why trucks litter the roads, especially Apapa and Tincan areas. There must be discipline, but before you discipline somebody, you must consider the environment in which he operates. So, enabling environment has to be created, there must be sensitisation for the truck operators and drivers.

“I do not believe in harsh or punitive approach, the situation has gone beyond using punitive methods to achieve discipline. Efforts should be made to see how the environment could be more conducive.

“If there is a terminal and truck parks, the drivers could relax and rest, and it is only when their services are needed that they would be invited. A situation where they spend three days on the road, not eating and sleeping well, you do not expect such people to be at their best.

“Traffic regulators should not be out for revenue; most of their activities are targeted at revenue generation. Imagine a situation where a vehicle will break down and an agency will tow it, slamming a bill of between N200,000 and N400,000. And why do you think the vehicles will not be rickety as the money meant to maintain the trucks are being taken away directly and indirectly under different guises,” Ogungbemi stated.

To ensure better safety on the road, the FRSC has concluded plans to introduce 30 special centres to screen drivers of trailers and trucks. Also, FRSC and NUPENG has implored its members to drive at 60 kilometre per hour. But the issue is with the enforcement. How do they ensure that.

IN a related development, within the space of seven days in Lagos State, recently, there were three cases of tanker accidents, with two resulting in loss of properties amounting to millions of naira.

The first at Iyana Ipaja, which occurred when a tanker loaded with fuel skidded off a bridge, got engulfed in flames and destroyed about 40 shops, four buildings, 25 vehicles and six tricycles. The second at Idimu, about four days later, no fewer than 34 houses and 70 shops were consumed, after another tanker with diesel went up in flame crashing into a building. The third accident was at Ajah area of Lagos, where a tanker spilled its content. Residents around the scene of the accident were lucky, as the truck did not go up in flame.

Another deadly tanker accident happened in Onitsha, Anambra State, killing not less than 70 people. Some residents commenting noted the indiscipline usually exhibited by the tanker drivers as a great contributor to the crisis.

Director of Information, Citizens Rights and Empowerment Advocacy Initiative (CREMA) James Ezema said that the authorities responsible for the regulation of activities of tanker drivers have failed to perform their duties.

For him, from the drivers’ licensing agencies, the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), to the transport associations and unions, there is laxity in sanctioning of their members when they violate traffic laws, and even the tanker owners are all to be blamed.

“I learnt the Road Safety is hurriedly organising a national summit on the issue. That amounts to the charmer arriving after the snake had bitten its victim to death. What have they been doing before now? We all see how reckless the tanker drivers are and the authorities responsible for sanctioning them, turn the other way, when they drive pass.

“The result of years of decay in the system is what we are seeing. Can you imagine that in this time and age, we transport goods by road. What happened to our rail system and the waterways? The immediate past administration tried to meaningfully invest in railway rehabilitation after decades of total collapse.

“The Buhari administration should pick up that project and add more impetus to the return of rail transport to reduce carnage and pressure on our roads,” Ezema said.

He called for the sanctioning of the tanker drivers that violate traffic laws to sanitize the system and curb the madness on the roads. He also believed that having orientation programmes for the tanker drivers to understand the value of human lives is important.

“It is obvious that some of them take certain substances that make them get spurred up. They drive so recklessly and endanger peoples’ lives. The NDLEA should beef up their surveillance to fish out those driving under substance influence.”

On if there is any culpability by the corporate organisations these tanker drivers work for, Ezema said some of the tanker drivers working for corporate bodies are usually recruited through agents and so-called consultants, who compromise the process.

For him, some of the drivers do not drive like persons, who have passed basic driving test. Strict sanctions could curb the madness on our roads, he stressed.

Mr. Tayo Alofun, a resident of the state, stressed that the problem is a product of impunity, as they care less about the consequences of their actions, mainly because the force of law is so weak.

“Most of the tanker drivers are reckless because they feel there is protection for them against the law. The road enforcement agents are no different as they cannot ensure sanity on the road, especially for tanker drivers; they are more concerned about earning money than protecting lives. Finally, the government is weak in bringing them to justice. How many times do we get to hear that someone goes to jail owing to tanker accidents?”

He noted that tankers that are not in good condition are deployed to convey fuel, yet they drive recklessly.

“Yet, there are enforcement agents on those roads allowing them passage. Sometimes, these tankers carry more than they should and who is checking all of that?

“He argued that the corporate organisations who own these tankers must make the drivers understand that their actions constitute wrong notion about their brands.”

He also insisted that there should be clear sanction internally for such offences.

Chairman, Institute of Safety Professionals of Nigeria, Lagos State Branch, Engr Timothy Chimezie Iwuagwu, noted that a cocktail of issues predicated on human, situational and environmental factors are promoting the spate of tanker fire incidences and tanker accidents generally

According to him, from the human factor consideration, there is poor orientation, driver recklessness, effect of alcohol and drug intake, attitude towards public safety and infringement on the right of other road users.

Another issue, he said, is the effect of fatigue and sleeplessness especially with the persistent scarcity of petroleum products at the time; and the desperation by tanker drivers, especially among the independent petroleum marketers to pick up products and meander through narrow lanes and crowded streets to their lucrative black market operators or race to distant places in very short time, defying danger signs and caution on bridges, flyovers, sharp bends and roundabouts.

“From situational perspective we have poor mechanical and operational state of these articulated trucks with excessively bright or defective head lamps, trafficators, brake light and wind screen wipers, tyres, suspension and steering systems. Environmental factors include the state of roads and support facilities like street lighting, reflectors and speed breakers.

“There is a near absence of town planning input in most of our residential, commercial and industrial areas. From a cursory assessment, safety consideration is evidently absent in our environmental planning and designs as the streets, roads and highways are constructed with a dangerous proximity to buildings, such that once a vehicle veers of the road with just three metres, it is already in a bedroom, a shop or across a fence. This is the reason why a petroleum tanker accident that results in a spill and fire easily leads to large scale destruction of businesses and residential places.”

On the argument that it is the lack of discipline that is promoting the incident, Iwuagwu stated that majority of tanker drivers lack good sense of orderliness, regulation, control, restraint and obedience.

He said his military experience has confirmed to him that there are no bad soldiers in the army but only bad generals. So, the absence of discipline of tanker drivers could be as a result of leadership lapses on the part of the tanker owners and the unions.

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