Yuletide: Peace Mass Transit Organizes Safety Drills For Drivers To Curb Crashes

Posted by Ignatius Okpara African News, Featured, Latest Headlines, News, News Across Nigeria, News From The State Sunday, December 19th, 2021

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – As part of measures to ensure safety of its passengers and personnel on the expressways during and after the yuletide season, Peace Mass Transit Limited, (PMT), has embarked on a reorientation programme for its drivers.

General Manager of the transport company, Mr. Ifeanyi Enete, who disclosed this to newsmen in Enugu Thursday via a statement, said “the multi pronged strategy is a combination of purpose-built solutions, aimed at achieving zero accident records this period.

It also geared towards reducing other avoidable disruptive incidents in the course of scheduled journeys, to the barest minimum.

He said: “Drivers, who are rated the main component in the road transport chain, have been made to go through special safe driving rehearsals, by PMT highly experienced internal regulators, led by Safety Manager, Sunday Igwegbe, a retired DSP and former Ebonyi State Traffic Commander.

According to to the GM, “the ongoing exercise is organised and seamless, as drivers who pull into the Emene, Enugu headquarters of the company, for special or scheduled maintenance, are taken in for quick safety drills, ostensibly to certify that they are still up to date with their highway codes, and crucially, that they have no inhibitive habits or health challenges.

Such as drunkenness or poor eyesight, saying only a healthy driver, in a good frame of mind, will be able to cope with the rigours of the busy highway, at all times, particularly during the busy festive season!

“Those refresher activities are in addition to the statutory certification training conducted for our drivers by the Federal Road Safety Corps(FRSC), at least twice a year.

“Training and retraining of drivers are highly recommended by FRSC as a regulatory agency as a cardinal policy for reduction of accidents on the highway.

“Peace Mass Transit has consistently won awards/commendations from FRSC which is empowered by law, to regulate road transport, for its diligence and priority attention given to driver training and welfare, since inception.

“To ensure maintenance matters are attended to promptly, the company has now had to decentralize maintenance operations for the PMT fleet, across the country. Under the new arrangement, every depot now has its own full complement of resident maintenance personnel, including mechanics and auto electricians.

“This new concept ensures that vehicles are double-checked on arrival at every destination point, to guarantee their road worthiness for seamless operations.

“Apart from timely maintenance of vehicles, drivers are required to request for replacement of tyres on attainment of a given mileage. PMT uses only brand new tyres for its fleet. Ditto, batteries.

“One other enduring policy that has served Peace Mass and its customers so well over the years, is prohibition of so-called “return journeys” by drivers on the highway route. Only drivers on short/local routes, not exceeding one hour, are permitted to do multiple trips.

“The expression of “Return Journey” in road transport refers to a driver getting to his destination, and promptly embarking on yet another journey!

“PMT, by this policy, reckons that drivers need adequate recovery time, to be in the best possible condition to travel safely, including good rest.

“The company has, unarguably,the largest bus fleet in the country, deep enough to meet even extraordinary passenger demands, in special seasons, and its drivers have enough recovery time.

The GM, affirmed that extra measures had been taken to cope with the demands of the season, and going forward.

“We always look at where and where we need to tinker with the things we do and how we do them, to be able to serve the public better”, he explained.

“Safety is of paramount importance to us and every customer, so no price is too much to pay in terms of commitment of resources”

“The additional infrastructure we have put in place across our depots, means more personnel and higher budget, but we think they are all justified”, he assured.

“Our customers, who have kept faith with us all these years, deserve even more”.