6 Months Jail For Drivers Using Handsfree – FRSC

Drivers who make or receive calls using wired or wireless devices including earphones, AirPods, EarPods or handsfree mode are liable to six months imprisonment, the Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC has said.

The Corps says it is indeed illegal to receive or make telephone calls while driving, regardless of any wireless gadget used for such communication, according to the National Road Traffic Regulations, 2012.

FRSC Corps Public Education Officer, Bisi Kazeem, in an interview with Saturday PUNCH, affirmed that driving is a vocation that requires 100% concentration and that nothing should distract drivers on the wheel.

Observing that communication with or without any remote device is a violation of the National Road Traffic Regulations, 2012, Kazeem said, “It is illegal. Driving entails 100 per cent concentration so you cannot be distracted. It is there in the regulation,” the FRSC official said in a caution to drivers.

 “It is clear from the provisions of Reg 166 (1) that it is illegal to make phone call using EarPods earphone or whatever means.

“It is also clear that phone call is not restricted to telephone conversation between two or more people.

“Anything that will distract you while driving must be avoided. When we do public enlightenment, we even discourage drivers talking to passengers which could cause distraction.

“The law may not make it an offence but at the same time, it can distract you, even changing your cassette (while driving) can distract you and result to accident.”

The development from the FRSC is bound to take many motorists and drivers in the country who had until now believed that it was acceptable to use remote devices to communicate while on the steering.

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