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The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) on Wednesday clarified its position on the re-introduction of psychiatric tests for some life-threatening traffic offences as from July 1, 2017, saying traffic offenders booked for the offences will have to bear the cost of the medical examinations to be conducted on them.
The Corps had announced on Tuesday that rising from observed aggravating crashes and disobedience to road traffic laws and regulations, it had taken a decision that, as from 1st July 2017, some life threatening offences shall be viewed more seriously and offenders caught will be subjected to psychiatric examinations to determine their mental wellness. FRSC listed the offences to include the use of a phone while driving, route violation, traffic light violation, dangerous driving and overloading.
FRSC said in the enforcement of the law, such offenders shall have their driver’s licence withdrawn pending confirmation of their sanity or otherwise while the offender shall bear the full cost of such consultation which shall be at a recognised public medical facility.
But in making the clarification at a public lecture in Lagos on Wednesday, the Corps Marshal of the FRSC, Dr Boboye Oyeyemi, said the country can no longer watch the lives and property of its citizens wasted by few non-conformists on the highways even as he maintained that no violators of the identified offences would be exempted from the tests.
“The cost of the tests would be borne by the offender,” Oyeyemi stated. “This nation can no longer watch the lives and property of its citizens being wasted by few nonconformists on the highways. While FRSC cares; everyone must also care, because together, we must make the nation greater. Let each and everyone plays their own part now.”
Oyeyemi further stated that the policy is not new to the FRSC, but suspended after some people raised certain ethical questions. On the procedure for enforcing the law, he noted that in the event that an apprehended driver has valid papers, the documents would be confiscated and would only be released to after the results of the test are released to determine the state of the mental wellness of the offender. He, therefore, called on the drivers to operate with caution and avoid anything that could make them be subjected to the regulations.
On the justification for reintroducing the tests, the Corps Marshal noted that the increasing wave of fatal crashes resulting from such offences made the reintroduction inevitable to serve as a restraint to perpetrators of the act. He stressed that in the course of enforcing the law, the vehicle of the offender would be impounded while he would be sent to a recognised public medical facility for the tests, the result of which will determine whether he would be allowed to continue to drive again or not.
