FRSC Flags Off Operation Rainstorm

JUNE 10, 2013 LEAVE A COMMENT
Further to sustained operational strategies to reduce road crashes by 20% and fatality by 30%, in line with its 2013 strategic goals, the Federal Road Safety Corps will between 9thand 16th June, 2013, flag off a nationwide special patrol tagged“Operation Rainstorm”.
According to the FRSC, the special patrol is a build up on last month’s exercise tagged “Operation Shield” and other operational activities which has been embarked upon by the FRSC since the beginning of the year as part of its operational intervention.
Speaking on the mission targets for the nationwide exercise, the Corps Public Education Officer, Corps Commander Jonas Agwu said “operation rainstorm has been organized in a triad dimension to cater for strict enforcement of road traffic regulations intertwined with robust public enlightenment campaigns and fleet operators’ inspection and certification under the Road Transport Safety Standardization Scheme.
He noted that massive deployment of patrol vehicles, bikes, ambulances and tow trucks along designated routes of the highways will be witnessed to boost enforcement activities during the special patrol.
Commander Jonas emphasized that “the enforcement will be on number plate violations such as covering of number plates with plastic, use of Peace Ambassador number plates, use of plastic number plates and the use of broken and defaced number plates which negates the provisions of the National Road Traffic Regulations 2004”.
According to him “ operation rainstorm will also address other road vices such as speed limit violation, overloading, dangerous driving, driver’s license violation, non-use of the passenger manifest by some fleet operators and light sign violations.
He added that the robust awareness campaign will focus on the traffic hazards associated with the use of worn-out tyres, speed limit violation, the new number plate, use of phone while driving, driver’s license and compliance with passenger manifest among fleet operators.
Furthermore, the exercise will also witness a nationwide inspection and certification of fleet operators on compliance with minimum safety standards under the Road Transport Safety Standardization Scheme which has so far, witnessed the certification of 2,922 fleet operators and their terminals, training of 600 safety managers and 692 Governors’ convoy drivers.
However, about 210 fleet operators have been de-certified under the scheme for non-conformity with set safety standards and depleted minimum safety standards after inspection and certification.
Feelers from the FRSC indicate that its operatives will not only use the special patrol as platform to inspect more fleet operators for certification but will also evaluate already certified operators to ensure sustenance in operational, vehicles and drivers’ standards as part of measures to enshrine sanity on the highways.
It will be recalled that last month’s operation shield witnessed a 24% reduction in road crashes and 70% increase in the number of traffic offenders arrested and arraigned before mobile courts.
A detailed analysis indicate that while 1,089 offenders were arrested in week 18 (29th April-5th May, 2013) for 1,225 offences before the operation shade special patrol, 3009 offenders were arrested for 4,025 traffic-related offences in week 19 (6th-12thMay, 2013) during the exercise.
Similarly, week 18 posted 32 deaths and 126 injured persons in 55 reported road crashes while week 19(during the special patrol) accounted for down ward trend of 18 deaths and 100 injured persons in 42 road crashes.
Meanwhile, the Federal Road Safety Corps wishes to re-iterate commitment to deliver on its strategic goals for 2013 even as road users are strictly warned to comply with all traffic rules and regulations.

What about the accidents caused by FRSC officers?