SAFETY: Phone call while driving; the latest trend

Making phone calls while driving is the new trend in the country now and it is mostly common amongst the highly-placed and the men in uniform.

When the Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC introduced the use of seat belt while driving, it took less than a month for the implementation to be accepted and carried out across the country.

It was not only embraced by drivers all across the country, movie producers also use it as part of the segment of their films. They use it to send message to their viewers on the need for seat belt and safety.

 Due to this, the usage of seat belt while driving suddenly became parts and parcel of drivers’ lives that they don’t wait for the men of the FRSC before making use of the belt. Even the commercial drivers who are defiant when it comes to carrying out safety instructions are not left out.

Unlike the seat belt, drivers find it difficult to obey the instruction of ‘not making phone calls while driving.’ Research has shown that the offenders of seat belt usage are fewer compare to those driving and making phone calls on daily basis and it has not stopped.

The worrisome aspect of it is that the act is mostly committed by the highly-placed persons and men in uniform. These sets of people believe that they are untouchable hence they deliberately make calls while driving. The inability of the FRSC to carry out arrest of these individuals has forced others to also indulge in the act.

Recently, two drivers cheated death when one of them was making calls while driving. An eyewitness told our correspondent that one of the drivers, who was driving a Toyota Jeep was making telephone calls while driving and rammed into the driver of a Golf car.

According to him, the driver of the Toyota Jeep driver was not concentrating hence he left his lane (in the middle) and rammed into the third lane. And because the driver of the Jeep was on high speed when he hit the Golf car, they couldn’t control the vehicles hence the two vehicles fell into a ditch very close to Kugbo furniture along Nyanya/Keffi road.

When our correspondent got to the scene, the occupants of the two vehicles have already been rushed to the hospital for medical attention. We gathered that no life was lost.

That is just one of the many accidents that ‘phone calls and driving’ could cause. Many drivers were not lucky to recount their ordeals. Before now, people ping while driving but that seems to have reduced but the rampant one is the call making.

Investigation carried out revealed that uniform personnel are the chief culprits. Recently, our correspondent was around the checkpoints of the men of the FRSC at Wuse Zone 5, where they were arresting drivers without seat belt and other offences.

We discovered that whenever they accosted a driver that is either not using the seat belt or making calls while driving, they initially stop him but once he identifies him/herself as a security personnel, they let go without even a warning.

Another set of people that violate safety laws are the highly-placed especially politicians. They see themselves as thin god that must be worshipped and cannot be touched by anybody especially when they come across those they see as ‘ordinary recruits’ in the FRSC.

In fact, whenever the men of the FRSC come across such persons, instead of insisting on carrying out the laws, they will rather salute them to show their loyalty. Only a few who are brave ensure that these men face the music. The cronies and relatives of these highly-placed persons are also not left out of this act, some of them don’t give regards to the officers because of who they believe they have.

These highly-placed not only make calls while driving, they also beat traffic lights and commit other traffic offences at will. It has also been discovered that some of them don’t renew their particulars neither do they have original drivers’ license.

A safety expert, Chike Chukwuma disclosed that the moment other drivers are seeing such actions by the FRSC and that of their colleagues; many drivers will also do the same especially those who have relatives in the security circle or highly-placed people in the society.

“I think what is good for the goose should also be good for the ganders. The law is made for everybody not only for the common man. If it is for safety reason, no matter how highly-placed or who the person is, they should be meant to respect the law because phone calls and driving will definitely cause distraction and endanger the lives of other road users and even passers-by.

“When you begin to bend rules for others, then you are causing problems for yourselves and the society. When you go round the town, you will discover that the number of people that commit this offence, ‘driving and making calls’ are very high,” Chukwuma claimed.

Research has shown also that movie producers don’t care about this offence unlike the seat belt. Actors and actresses are seen making use of the seat belt but they end up making phone calls while driving in the same movie.

The question is why would people like to endanger their lives and the lives of others because of ordinary call that can wait. Why won’t drivers or vehicle owners not park and make the call rather than cause problems on the road.

Why is the FRSC handling the issue of driving and making calls with kid-gloves? Can the menace ever be tackled by the Road Safety? Only time will tell.