The Directorate of Road Traffic Services says it impounded 9,389 vehicles for traffic offences in the last eight months.

DRTS’ spokesman, Kalu Emetu, said this in an interview on Tuesday in Abuja.

Mr Emetu said whenever such vehicles were impounded, the offending drivers were usually sent to the directorate’s model drivers’ institute in Lugbe for correction.

He said this usually availed the offenders, especially those who did not go through any driving school or institute, the opportunity to Know the best way to drive in the territory.

“Also, apart from paying fines which is a revenue generation to the government, they are made not to have control of the vehicles until they fulfill the stipulated conditions.

“And oftentimes, they are subjected to a psychometric test, and in the worst scenario, they are made to even go for psychoanalysis. This is to prove whether or not the driver is still fit to be on the road,” he said.

Mr Emetu said DRTS officers might even be stricter by withdrawing a driver’s licence outright.

He said all these efforts aimed to ensure that crashes on Abuja roads were reduced to the bare minimum.

On the problem posed by rickety vehicles, he said the DRTS had subjected 19,929 vehicles to test. He said this was to reduce the number of vehicles that are not roadworthy in Abuja.

He said out of the 19,929, 9,234 passed the roadworthy test, representing about 47 per cent, while 10,792 were sent back for further maintenance services.

“All this exercise took place between January and August and represents a remarkable improvement compared to what it used to be in the past. The reason for this improvement is the strategic increase in enforcement activities, which has made more vehicle owners patronise the inspection centres,” he said.

He said that the inspection centres were located in different parts of the city for easy access by drivers, adding that road-worthy vehicles go a long way to reducing road crashes.

(NAN)