Director, FCT Directorate of Road Traffic Services (DRTS), Major Adamu Argungu (rtd) has lamented that despite the huge sums of money invested in the robot system of traffic law enforcement, the project had not yielded the anticipated results, as only 90,000 out of the 300,000 estimated vehicles plying Federal Capital Territory (FCT) roads had obtained the encoded electronic chips required to make this possible.
Argungu disclosed this at the weekend, when he took journalists on a tour round the DRTS premises, to display new vehicle law enforcement strategies put in place by the organisation.
He said that the programme commenced in January 2010 and that the board had anticipated that by December 2010, 100 per cent success would have been achieved, but regretted that as at July 1, 2011, only 29.9 per cent success had been achieved.
He explained that part of the advantage of the robot system was that it increased effectiveness and efficiency and empowered vehicle licence officers with instant details of all approaching vehicles from a distance of about 100 metres, thus saving time used in manual checks and attendant traffic congestion.
The director maintained that through this medium, all vehicles plying the roads with expired particulars and drivers’ documents would be detected without having to stop the car.
While appealing to motorists who were yet to obtain the chip to do so immediately in order to avoid sanction, Argungu said that the DRTS would now operate with more intensity towards making sure motorists obtain the encoded chip, to enable the project proceed towards its goals.?