The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Ondo state command, has prosecuted no fewer than 29 drivers for violating traffic rules and regulations on highways in the state.

FRSC arraigned the offenders through a mobile court presided over by Chief Magistrate Adetutu Mayowa-Idowu on Friday in Akure.

The offenders were charged with several offences, including dangerous driving, invalid driver’s license, overloading, driving without a passenger manifest, not having a fire extinguisher, speeding, among others.

Mr Mayowa-Idowu, who discharged two drivers, cautioned the drivers to always abide by the rules and regulations of traffic and asked the other offenders to pay a fine before embarking on their journey.

Speaking with journalists after the mobile court, Samuel Ibitoye, FRSC state sector commander, said that the prosecution was an enforcement strategy to ensure drivers followed traffic rules and regulations on highways.

Mr Ibitoye, who said that the arrests were in conjunction with the personnel of NDLEA, correctional services, and police, emphasised that the aim was to avoid crashes, especially during the yuletide season.

According to him, the prosecution is to send a signal to other drivers that there is a need for them to drive to stay alive.

“So, we are on the road because many Nigerians have gone down the drain. We are on the road to caution the excesses of the drivers.

“We don’t want them to die as drivers and we don’t want Nigerians to die on the road because of reckless and impatient drivers,” he said.

He, therefore, reiterated the command’s commitment to ensure that lives and properties were safe during and after the yuletide seasons in the state.

Mr Ibitoye, who vowed to sanction any  driver caught violating traffic rules, called on passengers to play their roles as one of the critical partakers of road safety.

“Passengers need to talk to the driver but not distract them because the contract they sign is to take them from one point to the other.

“They are not signing a contract to kill them or a contract to take them to the mortuary or amputate their legs,” he said.

Oyekola Abayomi, a driver charged with dangerous driving and an invalid driver’s license, appealed for forgiveness and leniency and promised not to violate traffic rules again.

According to him, other drivers should not see FRSC personnel as their enemies because they are performing their duties on the road.

“We don’t need to see FRSC personnel as our enemies when they stop us on the road; we should stop to hear what they want to say and abide by road rules,” he said. 

(NAN)