Expired tyres and the legislative imperative to save lives
Relief may soon come the way of
vehicle owners, as the House of
Representatives has begun moves that
will culminate in the passage of a law
which seeks to curtail and if possible,
eradicate the havoc being perpetrated
by substandard and expired tyres on
Nigerian roads. Essentially, the bill to
that effect, which scaled second
reading on the floor of the chamber, is
principally seeking to make it
mandatory for the expiry date of tyres
to be more explicit rather than the
coded way in which it is being shown
presently.
The House argued that considering the
level of literacy in the country, very
few users and purchasers can readily
decode and decipher the expiry date of
tyres as is presently coded. In March
this year, James Ocholi (SAN), a
minister of the federal republic, his
wife and son died in a fatal auto crash
along Abuja-Kaduna highway.
While Ocholi, 55, and his son, Aaron
Enojo, 20, died instantly, his wife,
Blessing Fatima, a Registrar at Salem
University, Sokoto, was said to have
died later from injuries sustained in
the crash. The late minister and
members of his family were said to be
travelling in his vehicle when the
accident occurred. Explaining how the
minister and his family members died
57 kilometers away from Kaduna,
Kaduna State Sector Commander of
Federal Road Safety Commission,
FRSC, Francis Udoma, said the rear
tyre of the SUV they were travelling in
burst, while the vehicle skidded off the
road and somersaulted several times
into the bush.
Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) in
April 2016 confirmed the death of six
of its members in a ghastly motor
accident along Abuja-Kaduna
expressway. A survivor, Dr. Stephen
Ayosanmi of EKSUTH, spoke to
newsmen on his hospital bed and
disclosed that the accident occurred as
a result of a burst tyre. The doctors
were part of the Ekiti State delegates to
the 56th Annual General Conference/
Annual Delegates Meeting (AGC/ADM)
of NMA which held in Sokoto State.
Those who lost their lives in the
accident were: Dr Tunde Aladesanmi
of the Federal Teaching Hospital, Ido
Ekiti, FETHI; Dr Ojo Taiwo, Ekiti State
University Teaching Hospital, EKSUTH;
NMA Secretary, Dr Akinyele Alex; Dr J.
Ogunseye of the Health Management
Board; President, EKSUTH Association
of Resident Doctors (ARD), Dr Olajide,
Dr Adeniyi James of the FETHI and a
driver identified as Mr. Ajibola.
Ayosanmi said: “I am one of the
delegates for the National NMA
Conference taking place in Sokoto. On
our way, we decided to follow Kaduna
and rest so that we would continue our
journey to the conference the
following day. We were about 60km to
Kaduna when the accident happened.
We were in a bus that seats between
15 and 16 persons. We were 13 in the
bus, including the driver.
Asides the driver, we were all doctors.
This was on Sunday, April 24. As we
were approaching Kaduna, suddenly a
tire burst. The bus somersaulted. This
was around 4:45pm.” Only recently,
the Federal Road Safety Commission
(FRSC) said it would henceforth
impound vehicles with expired and
substandard tyres in the country. The
FRSC Corps Marshal, Mr. Boboye
Oyeyemi, made this known at the
Stakeholders’ Forum on Tyres with the
theme `‘Promoting Safe Tyre use in
Nigeria.” The forum was organized by
the FRSC in Abuja.
Oyeyemi said that all the crashes the
commission had recorded from
February 2016 till date had been tyre-
related. He said that this could be
attributed to ignorance in the use and
management of tyres by most drivers.
“We are going to start impounding
any vehicle that has expired or
substandard tyres and then we will
arrange for the continuous journey of
the passengers. That’s the new method
to preserve lives. The bill therefore
specifically seeks to make it mandatory
for all tyres manufactured in or
imported into Nigeria to bear both
manufacturing and expiry dates.
This is even as the chamber last week
urged the Federal Road Safety
Commission (FRSC) and the Vehicle
Inspection Office (VIO) to properly
educate Nigerians on the hazards
associated with improper handling of
tyres and use of food-based sealing
pastes on tyres. In a motion it adopted
before proceeding on its annual
recess, the House lamented the high
incidence of tyre related accidents that
have resulted in the loss of about 5,000
lives from 2010 to date, with
vulcanizers as the main culprit in tyre
failures and the consequent fatalities
owing to the inappropriate handling
of tyres.
The House said the best way to repair
tyres is the use of standard rim and
tubeless tyre sealing pastes, which are
lubricant, water resistant, and oil
based. These, according to it, protect
the rim from rusting, prevent tyres
from drying up, and also makes
mounting and removing easier.
Sponsor of the motion, Sopuluchukwu
Ezeonwuka told the parliament that
this improper handling of tyres
includes the use of food based sealing
pastes like “fufu” and “eba” in the
repairs of tyres and this dangerous
practice causes rusts and wear on even
the newest and strongest rims and
tyres.
Hear him, “The practice drastically
reduces the lifespan of tyres, even
brand new ones, from perhaps six
years to two years as the case may be,
as tyres repaired in that manner dry
up, crack, lose air faster and may
burst unexpectedly as evidenced in
spare tyres with food based pastes
which deflates easily on their own,
thus leaving the user wondering what
went wrong and the most common
consequence of tyre failure on the
road is roll-over accidents.”
Meanwhile, the proposed legislation
when passed into law will enable a lay
user of tyres to instantly note the
expiry date at a glance, just like in the
case of medicinal drugs, without the
need to engage in any exercise or
mathematical calculations in order to
decode the expiry date code on the
tyre.
Sponsor of the bill, Yakub Abiodun
Balogun said the use of substandard
and expired tyres has caused a lot of
accidents which has led to loss of lives
and properties in Nigeria and it is
within the purview of the lawmakers
to employ the legislative instrument to
address the problem. Balogun said if
passed into law, the piece of legislation
will also make an average user of tyres
to avoid buying expired products
which will in turn lead to reduction in
tyre related auto crash.
vehicle owners, as the House of
Representatives has begun moves that
will culminate in the passage of a law
which seeks to curtail and if possible,
eradicate the havoc being perpetrated
by substandard and expired tyres on
Nigerian roads. Essentially, the bill to
that effect, which scaled second
reading on the floor of the chamber, is
principally seeking to make it
mandatory for the expiry date of tyres
to be more explicit rather than the
coded way in which it is being shown
presently.
The House argued that considering the
level of literacy in the country, very
few users and purchasers can readily
decode and decipher the expiry date of
tyres as is presently coded. In March
this year, James Ocholi (SAN), a
minister of the federal republic, his
wife and son died in a fatal auto crash
along Abuja-Kaduna highway.
While Ocholi, 55, and his son, Aaron
Enojo, 20, died instantly, his wife,
Blessing Fatima, a Registrar at Salem
University, Sokoto, was said to have
died later from injuries sustained in
the crash. The late minister and
members of his family were said to be
travelling in his vehicle when the
accident occurred. Explaining how the
minister and his family members died
57 kilometers away from Kaduna,
Kaduna State Sector Commander of
Federal Road Safety Commission,
FRSC, Francis Udoma, said the rear
tyre of the SUV they were travelling in
burst, while the vehicle skidded off the
road and somersaulted several times
into the bush.
Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) in
April 2016 confirmed the death of six
of its members in a ghastly motor
accident along Abuja-Kaduna
expressway. A survivor, Dr. Stephen
Ayosanmi of EKSUTH, spoke to
newsmen on his hospital bed and
disclosed that the accident occurred as
a result of a burst tyre. The doctors
were part of the Ekiti State delegates to
the 56th Annual General Conference/
Annual Delegates Meeting (AGC/ADM)
of NMA which held in Sokoto State.
Those who lost their lives in the
accident were: Dr Tunde Aladesanmi
of the Federal Teaching Hospital, Ido
Ekiti, FETHI; Dr Ojo Taiwo, Ekiti State
University Teaching Hospital, EKSUTH;
NMA Secretary, Dr Akinyele Alex; Dr J.
Ogunseye of the Health Management
Board; President, EKSUTH Association
of Resident Doctors (ARD), Dr Olajide,
Dr Adeniyi James of the FETHI and a
driver identified as Mr. Ajibola.
Ayosanmi said: “I am one of the
delegates for the National NMA
Conference taking place in Sokoto. On
our way, we decided to follow Kaduna
and rest so that we would continue our
journey to the conference the
following day. We were about 60km to
Kaduna when the accident happened.
We were in a bus that seats between
15 and 16 persons. We were 13 in the
bus, including the driver.
Asides the driver, we were all doctors.
This was on Sunday, April 24. As we
were approaching Kaduna, suddenly a
tire burst. The bus somersaulted. This
was around 4:45pm.” Only recently,
the Federal Road Safety Commission
(FRSC) said it would henceforth
impound vehicles with expired and
substandard tyres in the country. The
FRSC Corps Marshal, Mr. Boboye
Oyeyemi, made this known at the
Stakeholders’ Forum on Tyres with the
theme `‘Promoting Safe Tyre use in
Nigeria.” The forum was organized by
the FRSC in Abuja.
Oyeyemi said that all the crashes the
commission had recorded from
February 2016 till date had been tyre-
related. He said that this could be
attributed to ignorance in the use and
management of tyres by most drivers.
“We are going to start impounding
any vehicle that has expired or
substandard tyres and then we will
arrange for the continuous journey of
the passengers. That’s the new method
to preserve lives. The bill therefore
specifically seeks to make it mandatory
for all tyres manufactured in or
imported into Nigeria to bear both
manufacturing and expiry dates.
This is even as the chamber last week
urged the Federal Road Safety
Commission (FRSC) and the Vehicle
Inspection Office (VIO) to properly
educate Nigerians on the hazards
associated with improper handling of
tyres and use of food-based sealing
pastes on tyres. In a motion it adopted
before proceeding on its annual
recess, the House lamented the high
incidence of tyre related accidents that
have resulted in the loss of about 5,000
lives from 2010 to date, with
vulcanizers as the main culprit in tyre
failures and the consequent fatalities
owing to the inappropriate handling
of tyres.
The House said the best way to repair
tyres is the use of standard rim and
tubeless tyre sealing pastes, which are
lubricant, water resistant, and oil
based. These, according to it, protect
the rim from rusting, prevent tyres
from drying up, and also makes
mounting and removing easier.
Sponsor of the motion, Sopuluchukwu
Ezeonwuka told the parliament that
this improper handling of tyres
includes the use of food based sealing
pastes like “fufu” and “eba” in the
repairs of tyres and this dangerous
practice causes rusts and wear on even
the newest and strongest rims and
tyres.
Hear him, “The practice drastically
reduces the lifespan of tyres, even
brand new ones, from perhaps six
years to two years as the case may be,
as tyres repaired in that manner dry
up, crack, lose air faster and may
burst unexpectedly as evidenced in
spare tyres with food based pastes
which deflates easily on their own,
thus leaving the user wondering what
went wrong and the most common
consequence of tyre failure on the
road is roll-over accidents.”
Meanwhile, the proposed legislation
when passed into law will enable a lay
user of tyres to instantly note the
expiry date at a glance, just like in the
case of medicinal drugs, without the
need to engage in any exercise or
mathematical calculations in order to
decode the expiry date code on the
tyre.
Sponsor of the bill, Yakub Abiodun
Balogun said the use of substandard
and expired tyres has caused a lot of
accidents which has led to loss of lives
and properties in Nigeria and it is
within the purview of the lawmakers
to employ the legislative instrument to
address the problem. Balogun said if
passed into law, the piece of legislation
will also make an average user of tyres
to avoid buying expired products
which will in turn lead to reduction in
tyre related auto crash.
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