The Corp Marshall of the Federal Roads Safety Corps (FRSC), Shehu Mohammed has announced the unveiling of the “penalty point” system as part of the Corps’ determination to ensure safer roads for motorists in Nigeria.
The new “penalty point” is to become operational across Nigeria with immediate effect.
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Explaining the new system, the Corps’ Public Education Officer, ACM Olusegun Ogungbemide, in a statement issued in Abuja on Monday stated that “The penalty points system is a proven method of enforcing traffic laws, as it assigns points to drivers for various traffic offences. 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.
The FRSC Spokesman said that, “the Corps Marshal revealed that Drivers who accumulate between 10-14 points will receive a warning notification signifying that the driver should desist henceforth from violating traffic regulations. When the driver goes ahead to accumulate between 15-20 points, his/her drivers licence will 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 However, the drivers licence finally gets withdrawn when the driver accumulates 21 points, indicating that the driver’s right to drive on Nigerian roads is totally taken away or denied.”
According to him, “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.