The Federal Government in collaboration with  Heavy Duty and Haulage Transport Association of Nigeria has started data capturing of heavy duty trucks on Nigerian roads.

The National Secretary of the association, Mr Elvis Okolie disclosed this on Thursday in Enugu during a workshop organised for heavy duty drivers in the state.

Okolie said that the aim of the exercise was to curb carnage and diversion of goods on the highway and to educate the drivers on the security initiatives of the association  at curbing economic sabotage and avoidable loss of lives on the roads.

He said that officials of the association had been at the receiving end of the unprofessional conducts of some drivers necessitating the partnership with the federal government to checking the menace.

Some of the unprofessional conducts he added, include: harassment of officers of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), diversion and theft of goods and abandonment of broken down vehicles on the highway.

“Statistics show that most of the culprits drive under the influence of alcohol and other narcotics and this will no longer be tolerated. Therefore, we are generating the biometrics that  will  be used to locating any defaulting vehicle either through the owner of the vehicle or the owner of the goods,” he said.

Okolie said that the association had inaugurated a task force charged with the responsibility of implementing the new measures aimed at bringing sanity among their members.

He called on members of the public to, henceforth, report cases of unprofessional conducts by truck drivers for appropriate sanctions.

The Director of Operations, Enugu State chapter of the association, Mr Victor Uchedienyi, said that the task force was poised to restoring the confidence of road users and Nigerians in general.

Uchedienyi said that they would no longer condone situations where heavy duty drivers operated under the influence of alcohol and other hard drugs.

He said that the state chapter of the association was highly receptive of the biometrics initiatives.

The director of operations said that they would provide a parking space where broken down trucks would be relocated in order to ease traffic.

Earlier, the state Chairman of the association, Mr Chinedu Eche commended the cordial relationship between members irrespective of tribal and religious differences. (NAN)