Boboye Oyeyemi, the Federal Road Safety Commission Corps Marshal, on Tuesday said 7,308 lives were lost in road accidents in the last 15 months throughout the country.
Oyeyemi disclosed this at the Sensitisation Campaign for the Implementation of Speed Limiting Device in Nigeria, held in Lagos.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the sensitisation had as its theme: “The Benefits of Speed Limiting Device in Transport Management.”
Oyeyemi said the introduction and installation of speed limiters was one of the global strategies to reduce fatalities on roads.
He said: “At last year’s world remembrance for road traffic crash victims, the focus was on speed.
“Speed is one of the leading causes of death globally.
“In 2014, we recorded 10,380 Road Traffic Crashes, which occurred and about 6,000 lives were lost and 2,063 were injured.
“And for this year, in the first quarter of 2015, we recorded 2,342 RTCs, where 1,308 lives were lost and these are our future leaders.
“We have identified with all these reports that 50.8 per cent of these crashes were speed-related issues and loss of control carried 16 per cent.
“Speed is a key factor in crashes and once we can tame this, I am sure things will be much better.
“This led to the global recommendation that speed limiting devices should be introduced in every country, as part of the global strategies to curb losses on roads.”
The FRSC Chief Executive said the commission had a target of zero deaths in crashes in the country and was committed to the UN Action Plan on reduction of road fatalities by 50 per cent.
Oyeyemi said all the stakeholders in the transport sector signed in to have the enforcement of the device from June 1.
He said the enforcement would be in phases and the commission would start with commercial vehicles.
According to him, the organised transport sector has seen the benefit, including controlling fuel consumption, enhancement of the lifespan of the vehicles, elimination of crashes and zero deaths.
The FRSC boss said records available showed that only Kenya had demonstrated a serious implementation of the installation of the device.
He urged all vehicle owners to comply in the implementation in order to cut down road traffic crashes and fatalities.
The corps marshal said the commission had started training of personnel to ensure maximum compliance and enforcement.
Oyeyemi commended the Federal Government for efforts in road rehabilitation across the country, stressing that no road in the country met the minimum requirement of an expressway as yet.
Oyeyemi, however, said besides the installation of speed limiting devices, drivers should alert family members left at home on the need to reduce speed on the highways.
In his keynote address, the Minister of Works, Architect Mike Onolememen, who was represented by Adetokunbo Sogbesan, said the menace of RTCs had become a concern to the Federal Government.
Onolememen commended the collaboration of all stakeholders to ensure that speed limiting devices were installed in vehicles to prevent avoidable losses on the roads.
“The massive road rehabilitation of the Federal Government was to provide succour for Nigerians by reducing crashes, losses and travel time,” he said.
Onolememen called on all state governments to support FRSC in its effort to create safer roads.
Meanwhile, Dr. Joseph Odumodu, the Director-General of the Standard Organisation of Nigeria, said the device would be built into the engine of the vehicle to checkmate speed and reduce losses.
Odumodu, who was represented by Richard Adewumi, the agency’s Head of Electrical, presented a paper entitled: “Speed Limiting Devices: Requirements and Specifications for System Components and Implementation.”
He said: “No matter the level of acceleration the driver wants to attain, once the maximum speed is set, you cannot go beyond it.
“The essence of the standard is to prevent people from committing suicide.”
The director said the device had a recorder that could print out the speed record in a journey once a driver was stopped by traffic agents.
He said environment issues like temperature, salty water, dust, heat, etc were factored into the device for effective operation in the Nigerian setting.
According to Odumodu, SON had looked into the safety standard of the device, its performance and its installation.
Odumodu said a mechanism had been put in place to certify the products, suppliers and installers.
He said only such registered persons could supply and install.