The Federal Road Safety Commission has again warned motorists against driving with the aid of google maps using mobile phones.
The FCT Sector Commander of the commission, Ayuba Gora, was quoted saying that driving with the aid of google maps using mobile phones is a serious offence.
This however generated mixed reactions from Nigerians with some claiming that the commission is against the succour brought to road users through the use of google maps.
Clarifying the statement of the sector command on the use of google maps, the FRSC Spokesman Bisi Kazeem said he was quoted out of context and his statement outrightly misrepresented.
Kazeem said the FRSC as a technology-driven organisation is not and has never stood against the use of Google Maps by motorists.
The statement reads:
To state the obvious, we have always enlightened the public on the position of the law on the use of phone while driving.
The statement he made during the flag off buttresses the position of the Corps, which is that any driver who intends to deploy the use of Google Maps while driving must have it set on the phone before embarking on the journey, not while the vehicle is already in motion as this could be dangerous to the driver and other road users, and can lead to road traffic crash.
We say this because available records have shown that the use of phones for whatever purpose; be it text, voice calls, chats, browsing, setting google map to find location etc while driving could be distractive and can easily lead to loss of concentration. This has led to many road traffic crashes with attendant loss of lives and properties.
On the strength of this, the Federal Road Safety Corps wishes to reiterate its position on the use of phone while driving as a dangerous and hazardous road traffic behaviour which has led to unwanted and avoidable road crashes.
We, therefore, call on all motorists who intend to deploy the use of Google Maps on their phones, especially during the festive season when traffic density is high, to activate such before setting the vehicle in motion so as to ensure 100 per cent concentration on the wheels.
Road safety is a state of mind, road traffic crash is the absence of mind.
