Friday 11 March 2016

James Ocholi's Driver to be Prosecuted....See Reason

A recent statement by the leadership of the FRSC has revealed its plans to prosecute late James Ocholi's driver over an offense that contributed to the fatal accident.
Late James Ocholi and wife, Fatima
 
The Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC, Boboye Oyeyemi, said yesterday, that the driver of late Minister of State for Labour, Mr. James Ocholi, would be prosecuted for over-speeding, following the ghastly road crash that claimed the lives of the minister, his wife and son last Sunday, according to the Vanguard.
 
He also stated that Ocholi’s driver had no drivers licence as his name was not found on the data base of FRSC.

Oyeyemi, who disclosed these while presenting the accident’s Road Traffic Crash Investigation Interim Report to the Federal Executive Council, FEC, meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, recommended periodic retraining for convoy drivers, adding that late Ocholi and his family members were not on seat belt during the accident.

Overspeeding
 
He said: “Information gathered revealed that the driver of the crashed vehicle was actually moving at excess of the stipulated speed when he had a tyre burst.
 
“The crashed vehicle driver was driving too fast and he slammed on his brake so hard. These two factors materially contributed to the inability of the driver to maintain control when the left rear tyre burst.

“Skid marks and grooves found on the westbound shoulder made by the Lexus LX570 for about 15m and 9.3m respectively before it began somersaulting severely and the ejection of the minister and his son showed clearly that the travelling speed of the Lexus LX570 presented unsafe consequences in the event of certain road risk that may have occurred.
 
“The driver must have entered into a panic situation which resulted in his hard application of brakes and subsequent loss of control that took him into the bush path.
 
“The DOT number of the tyres were inward which cannot easily be read from outside. This indicates that the orientations of the tyres were not properly fixed which could adversely affect the performance of the tyres.

“The Federal Road Safety Corps Investigation Team (FIT) determines that the probable cause of the March 6, 2016, fatal crash at KM34 Kaduna-Abuja expressway near Rijana village, Kaduna State, was the driver’s failure to maintain directional control of his vehicle when the rear left tyre burst occurred.
“Severity of the fatality was increased due to the ejection of the minister and his son as a result of non use of rear seat belts.
 
FRSC recommendations
 
The corps recommended, among other things, for “the certification and re-certification of convoy drivers at intervals of two years of issuance of convoy driver’s licence.
 
“President Buhari should lead the campaign on compliance with speed limits, starting with installation of speed limiting devises in commercial vehicles.
 
“There was no record on the driver’s licence national data base of the driver of the minister with the name Taiwo James Elegbede.

“The ejection of the minister and his son, who occupied the rear seat, confirmed the fact that their rear seat belt were not in use and on the contrary, the driver and the orderly survived because the front seats belt were in use.”
 
Tributes Yesterday’s FEC meeting opened with President Buhari formally announcing the death of the Army General that died in another auto crash in Maiduguri, Borno State, and asked for one minute silence to be observed in honour of the departed.

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