On Tuesday, the Federal Road Safety Corps’ Ondo State Command refuted claims that the corps regularly drove without spare tires or fire extinguishers while fining drivers who did.
This was said by the state sector commander, Mr. Ezekiel SonAllah, in response to a complaint made against the command online by some Owo Unit passengers.
In Owo, a passenger whose driver received a fine for operating a car without a spare tire and a fire extinguisher posted on social media to complain that the corps lacked both items and that its officers were unable to bring them out when the passengers demanded them.
But the FRSC boss in a statement said the allegation was untrue, saying the officers on the patrol refused to bring the items out because it was not the driver that asked for them,.on the fateful day.
He said, “There wouldn’t have been any reason to dignify such false statement by replying to him ( the passenger) but for the purpose of setting the record straight for the general public to know the truth,
‘I want to state clearly that all our vehicles must have fire extinguishers and spare tyres before embarking on patrol or any official engagement. The same safety reasons that make it mandatory for all categories of vehicles to have these items are also applicable to FRSC vehicles.
“Life has no duplicate including that of FRSC staff. In view of the above, I want to state clearly that the reason those items were not brought out as requested was not that they were not in the vehicle, but because the request was not made by the driver who committed the offence but by one of the passengers who were angry because the patrol team turned down their request for the fines to be paid on the road which is a punishable offence, hence the request was not granted.
“The person who committed the offence was the driver and not the passenger, hence it was not obligatory for the patrol team to have yielded to his demand. One can imagine if all the occupants had made similar demands. It should be noted that the offender has since paid his fines.”
SonAllah called on motorists to ensure that they have spare tyres in their vehicles in case of tyre bursts and fire extinguishers in case of fire incidence.