Last week, a Mercedes 911 truck rammed into six (6) other vehicles in queue at Ken Maduako’s oil and gas filling station by Ihialla, along Ihialla-Onitsha expressway, Anambra state, precisely on Friday February 18, 2022 at about 11:00am.
Details of the accident has it that about sixty-three (63) people compromising 52 male adults, 10 female adults, and 1 male child were involved in the crash. A male adult, and 1 male child were lost their lives while nine (9) persons compromising 5 male adults, and 4 female adults sustained varying degrees of injuries and the rest were rescued.
Barely, two weeks ago, more than six (6) persons were killed when a truck conveying a container, speeding from from East street, lost control of its brakes and rammed into the popular and ever busy abattoir market with tricycles trapped under the wreckage.
There also very many cases of unlatched containers dangerously placed on articulated vehicles fallen on a commercial bus loaded with passengers, there are also known instances of where truck drivers have lost control of their heavy¬-duty trucks either as a result brake failure, recklessness or over-speeding with such vehicles veering off course and ramming into living houses, commercial buildings, schools or markets.
With these incident, the dreams and aspirations of these accident victims have either been fractured or cut short. Their likely contributions to the growth and development of their families, communities and Nigeria in general are also truncated.
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.
These recurring carnage on our roads occasioned by the vicious activities of reckless truck and trailer drivers and the seeming helpless posturing adopted by concerned authorities is growing to crazy level. The constant and continuous loss of life every as a result of these recklessness on the part of these drivers is indeed worrisome, thereby begging for practical and result oriented measures to forestall or reduce future occurrences to the barres minimum.
Hence, the need for the Federal Road Safety Commission to ensure safety on the roads because it appears to have lost purpose and direction.
The Vehicle Inspection Officers (V.I.O) which is another establishment nearing moribund should be awaken to its principal responsibility of inspection of vehicles with a view to ascertaining its road worthiness.
Finally, concerted action is required by governments at all levels to checkmate the excesses of these drivers while safety regulations should be strictly enforced in order to guarantee the safety of all road users.
Trucks that do not meet basic minimum standards of road worthiness should be impounded and discarded while designated holding bays should be provided for the parking of these trucks. The redundant enforcement agencies should be streamlined and re-positioned for effective and result-oriented operations.
