Charles Onyekamuo
9 January 2009
Onitsha — About 152 motorcyclists had been arrested by the Anambra State Sector Command of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) for compulsory use of helmet since the order came into effect January 1, 2009.
The Commanding Officer of the sector, Mr. Mohammed Garba, who disclosed this to THISDAY at the command's office in Amawbia near Awka, also said that over 15 commercial bus drivers had had their vehicles impounded for over-loading.
He said that compliance with the use of helmets by motorcyclists must be total, adding that as at yesterday, there had been 40 per cent compliance by commercial motorcyclists in the state popularly known as 'Okada' going by collated reports from the Onitsha and Nnewi sub-sectors of the command.
The rule, he stated, is that both the motorcyclist and his passenger must put on helmets, meaning that every motorcyclist in the state must have two helmets for his safety and that of his passenger in the event of an accident. The standard helmet, he also stressed, is the one with metal mould and a foam shield inside which, according to him, can protect people's head in emergency situations.
Those whose motorcycles were impounded, he said, were normally asked to go and buy the helmets because the commission neither manufactures nor sell them even as motor-cyclists in the state complained that at a price of N4,500 per helmet, the metal shield was beyond their reach.
But Garba said that long before the campaign on the use of helmets started in 2005 at a stakeholders meeting, the commission wrote to various state governments in the country to see how they can buy helmets at subsidised rates and sell to motorcyclists in their states.
He expressed dismay that sellers of the helmets were exploiting the opportunity of its compulsory use to hike their prices. He appealed to manufacturers and sellers alike to assist the motorcyclists by reducing the cost of helmets to enable them buy same and save lives on the roads as the case may be, adding that there was no time frame within which enforcement of compliance will lapse, affirming that it was a continuous process.
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