s FRSC introduces e-ticketing for traffic offence

The Federal Road Safety
Commission (FRSC) in partnership with
the United Bank for Africa (UBA), on
Tuesday, inaugurated e-ticketing to
facilitate easy booking of motorists for
road traffic offences.
Speaking at the inauguration, Mr Osita
Chidoka, the Corps Marshal of the FRSC,
said the bank had donated the first set
of 60 hand-held devices for the e-
ticketing.
According to him, 10 other devices have
been donated by another bank for the
programme.
Chidoka said the e-ticketing would
initially take off as a pilot scheme in
Lagos, Rivers and the Federal Capital
Territory (FCT).
He said that with the introduction of the
system, the FRSC would gradually move
away from the conventional method of
booking traffic offenders, which he
described as obsolete and time-
consuming.
The corps marshal said the new system
would enable the FRSC to track habitual
offenders, improve data management
and reduce time spent in booking
offenders.
"It will also enhance the capacity of the
FRSC to confront road traffic offenders,''
he added.
He said the commission was in
partnership with UBA in sensitising
motorists to the dangers of receiving or
making phone calls and sending
messages while driving.
Mr Kennedy Uzoka, the Deputy Managing
Director of UBA, said that the bank was
ready to work with the FRSC to save
lives.
"We have been looking for partners to
save lives and we found the FRSC; we
chose the FRSC because of its impact at
the national level.
"We can use technology to change the
way people behave but texting while
driving is very dangerous," he said.
In an interview with newsmen, Prof.
Robert Boroffice, the Chairman, Senate
Committee on Science and Technology,
urged motorists to desist from using the
phone while driving as the habit was a
major cause of road accidents.
"If you take the statistics of lives and
property lost on the road you will find
out that the number is even more than
the number of lives lost through AIDs
and other pandemic diseases,'' he said.
Boroffice commended the FRSC for
introducing the e-ticketing, saying it is in
line with the cashless policy of the
present administration.
"The system will also reduce fraud, so
the issue of somebody shortchanging
the Federal Government or the FRSC does
not arise. It is a good initiative.'' (NAN)