The era of brutal enforcement of road traffic laws in Lagos State is plummeting as the state government’s electronic central billing system goes test-run next week.
The electronic platform will make it possible to generate bills and fines on traffic offences online and deliver such to offenders either at homes or offices, as obtained in some advanced economies.
Dissatisfied with the mode of operations of the Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIOs), Governor Akinwunmi Ambode recently ordered them off the roads and announced plans to transit from crude enforcement of traffic laws to the application of new technologies that will simplify the task and create convenience for motorists.
Already, two computerised vehicle inspection centres have been completed at Ojodu-Berger and Ikorodu, while work on the third centre is at an advance stage in Lagos Island. BusinessDay gathers that the plan is to have the centres in the 20 local government areas of the state and in designated locations across the 37 local council development areas.
Anofiu Elegushi, acting commissioner for transportation in Lagos, said on Wednesday, that “Vehicle Inspection Service (VIS) of the state has embraced technology billing system by using Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR), Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and Central Billing System (CBS) technologies to run its activities in line with global best practice.”
According to Elegushi, the collection of data relating to vehicle documentations, which is the duty of VIS such as vehicle licence, road worthiness, insurance and others have been synchronised on e-platforms for easy verification of vehicle status on the spot, and any defaulting vehicle owner, through the data captured, will have bills generated through the Central Billing Systems (CBS) which in turn will be delivered to the defaulter’s home or office address as the case may be.
He explained that the harmonisation of the road worthiness certificate and MOT test was to further enhance the efficiency of vehicles plying Lagos roads as this would help the state consolidate its movement away from physical and manual inspection of vehicles to the computerised method.
Elegushi, however, alerted members of the public to observe the activities of officers of the vehicle inspection service of Ogun State in some areas and locations close to the state boundary adding that these officers can easily be taken for Lagos vehicle inspection officers as the service’s officers uniforms are the same nationwide.
To ensure that the situation is remedied, Elegushi said efforts are at advanced stage to clearly identify the state’s boundary from that of its sister state to prevent such misconceptions. He urged motorists in the State to continue to be partners in progress towards making the State safe and secure for all by voluntarily undertaking their responsibilities under extant laws regulating the operation of vehicles among others.
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