FRSC roll out harsh penalties for drunk, speedy drivers

The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), has announced activation of penalty points system to strengthen compliance with traffic regulations.

Its Corps Marshal Shehu Mohammed, in a statement yesterday, said, the system is designed to track and penalize drivers who commit traffic offences, with the goal of reducing road traffic crashes and promoting safe driving practices.

Mohammed pointed out that the penalty points system would be a proven method of enforcing traffic laws, as it assigns points to drivers for various traffic offences.

He said when a driver accumulates a certain number of points, he becomes liable to penalties such as warning, licence suspension or complete withdrawal of the licence.

He further explained that drivers who accumulate between 10-14 points will receive a warning notification signifying that the driver should desist henceforth from violating traffic regulations.

According to him, when the driver goes ahead to accumulate between 15-20 points, his/her drivers licence would be suspended, signifying a temporary withdrawal of rights to drive in Nigeria.

“However, the drivers licence finally gets withdrawn when the driver accumulates 21 points, indicating that the driver’s right to drive on Nigerian roads is totally taken away or denied.

“Examples of Traffic Offences and penalty points in Nigeria include: Driving without a valid driver’s license which accrues 10 penalty points, and ₦10,000 fine; Speed limit violation 5 penalty points and ₦5,000 fine; Driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs 5 penalty points, ₦5,000 fine; as well as Dangerous Driving which accrues 10 penalty points and N50,000 fine.

“ln addition to the various sanctions associated to the aforementioned accrued points, it will also form part of the record to be forwarded to countries demanding for driving history/extract of Nigerian Drivers applying to drive in foreign land. All these are determined efforts of the Corps to engender sanity and reduce fatalities on our roads.

“You may wish to know that the penalty points system, apart from promoting road safety ideals and reducing the number of road traffic crashes in Nigeria, also proves to be a proactive move towards stiffer enforcement of traffic laws, signifying a step in the right direction in FRSC’s quest to ensure that Nigerian road are safe all to use,” he said.