Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has dismissed security concerns being raised in some quarters about the Speed Limiting Device (SLD), saying it is meant to save lives.

Some commercial vehicle drivers have expressed fear that the device could reduce their chances of escaping in high-speed car chase with armed robbers and kidnappers.

A Commercial driver Nonso Asuai, in Abuja that the FRSC Speed Limiter Policy may have given criminals advantage over commercial vehicle drivers.

He urged the corps officers to either suspend the policy or immediately extend it to all categories of vehicles in the country.

But the spokesman of the FRSC, Bisi Kazeem, dismissed the insinuation as a fallacy.

He, however, noted that highway robbers and kidnappers hardly engaged their targets in car pursuit.

It is fallacy because these days armed robbers waylay rather than pursue their targets. They form barricades, which motorists run into before they attack.

The statistics is lower compared to the lives we are losing to speeding,’’Kazeem said.

He explained that the chances of survival were greater for motorists who submit to highway criminals than those involved in accidents while attempting to flee.

Report says Nigeria currently ranks high in road traffic accidents in the world with speeding accounting for over 50 per cent of cases.

FRSC statistics shows that about 60 per cent of road accidents in the country involve commercial vehicles resulting in high casualties.

In its efforts to address this situation, the FRSC launched full enforcement of the installation of the speed limiting device by commercial vehicles on Feb. 1.

The Corps Marshal, Boboye Oyeyemi, had said the policy will be extended to other categories of vehicles in due course.

The speed limiter is an electronic or mechanical device installed in a vehicle to prevent the driver from accelerating beyond speed limits stipulated by the Nigeria Highway Code.

For private cars, the code stipulates a maximum speed limit of 80km/h on highways and 100 km/h on expressways.

Taxis and buses are expected to maintain 80 km/h and 90 km/h on highways and expressways.

The code limits tankers and articulated vehicles to 50km/h on highways and 60 km/h on expressways.