COMMERCIAL vehicle drivers will henceforth be required to undergo medical test before being issued the standardised commercial driving licences, the Federal Road Safety Corps has said.
The FRSC Corps Marshal, Osita Chidoka, stated this during the inauguration of the licence at Jabi Motor Park, Abuja on Monday.
The medical certification, he said, would only be obtained in government hospitals at the cost of N2,000.
Chidoka also noted that a reduction in road accidents involving trailers, tankers and trucks would reduce deaths in auto crashes by 40 per cent in the country.
Chidoka, who said tankers, trailers and commercial buses, were involved in many of the accidents, added that the new commercial driving licence would curb the increasing vehicle accidents and ensure sanity on the roads.
He said, "Within 2010-2012, tankers and trailers were involved in more than 6,000 accidents .
"A reduction in accidents involving tankers and commercial buses will reduce deaths by 40 per cent. Some of the drivers don't know their medical conditions and there have been cases of drivers dying of stroke, and high blood pressure the while driving."
Describing the new standardised commercial driving licence as one of the strategies being put in place to address road crashes, he called on the National Union of Road Transport Workers to support the initiative.
Minister of Transport, Senator Idris Umar, who inaugurated the project, described it as a competence-based security document that should not be left to any non-governmental agency to handle.
The Leader, House of Representatives, Mrs. Mulikat Akande, described the project as critical to national development and advised travellers to exercise restraint on the road.
