Tanker drivers lack formal training

Total Nigeria Plc, in its latest report on best practices for road safety transportation, has raised an alarm that over 90 per cent of tanker drives lacked formal training.The oil firm linked major tanker accidents in Nigeria to illiteracy among tanker drivers, aged equipment, substandard tank construction, and low quality of road infrastructure.

Total Nigeria revealed this when members of the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), visited the Total Truck Drivers’ Training School and Inspection Centre in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.It estimated that about 120 accidents had been recorded since 2014, comprising 94 rollovers, 16 collisions, and 10 fires.

Total’s Management System for Transport Coordinator, Ajibola Alaga, while addressing stakeholders during a tour of the school’s facilities, said the oil firm and other members of MOMAN understand the sensitivity of transporting petroleum products in trucks across Nigeria, and are committed to bringing on board global best practices in ensuring safety of lives, property, and the environment.

Alaga said 25 per cent of tanker accidents on Nigerian roads were as a result of errors from other road users, while 21 per cent of the accidents are linked to drivers of the trucks.Other issues are linked to truck accidents include mechanical default of the vehicles, over-speeding, drivers’ fatigue, the environment, dangerous overtaking, and security issues constitute 18, 16, eight, another eight, three, and one per cent, respectively.

Speaking on the major risk factors associated with petroleum products distribution via road networks, Alaga noted that: “The behaviour of drivers (which is largely because of an over 90 per cent dearth in training); aged equipment; substandard equipment like truck heads; substandard tank construction of manholes, valves, among others; and low quality of infrastructure (roads, corridors, road signs, among others), are areas we have identified.”He said the second phase of the training school, which is the Track Centre, was underway, adding that construction work had commenced also at Ibadan.

Total Nigeria has installed two high-tech driving simulators at its Training School, and its Head office in Lagos, to enhance drivers’ skills, and promote safe haulage of petroleum products across the country.
 
It said the moves are part of its commitment to improving road safety with the broad objective to replicate and model real-life driving conditions for the purpose of building safe driving practices and culture amongst truck drivers in Nigeria.The simulators would serve as active training tools that will be used to prepare drivers for the management of unpredictable hazards that may occur when driving, such as collision avoidance.

Since the introduction of these facilities, it said truck accident rate and accident fatality have reduced by over 60 and 95 per cent, respectively. “This is an indication of our commitment to improved transportation safety and a better energy future,” Alaga said.