Abuja: How truck driver who flouted truck timing regulation ram over VIO official in Kugbo

An official of the Directorate of Road Traffic Services (DRTS), otherwise known as VIO, in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr Udunobun Otaigbe, who was hit by a truck has been hospitalised.

Otaigbe, who is the Truck Timing Unit Head of the DRTS on the Kugbo stretch of the Abuja-Keffi road, was hit at Karu bridge by a truck with a Guinness label driven by one Wilson Aniete.

The DRTS official who was taken to hospital following the incident on Friday evening, was admitted to the intensive care unit of Asokoro District Hospital, Abuja.

It was gathered that he sustained a broken bone on the left leg and bruises on his face and hands.

The driver of the Mitsubishi truck with registration number AAA 477 XB had allegedly flouted the truck timing regulation on the road and was trying to evade arrest when the incident happened daily trust reports.

There has been a standing FCT ministerial directive that heavy-duty trucks should not ply the road in the mornings and evenings when workers were either going to work or returning home after the close of duty.

The truck driver was initially flagged down and parked by the roadside, but that he started the vehicle again and rammed into the officer who had turned his attention to other issues.

It was further learnt that while some of his men tried to help him, others chased the driver who was trying to flee but could not go far due to traffic congestion on the road.

Officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and other security personnel joined in the chase and the truck driver was arrested and taken to the Karu Police Division.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the FCT ministerial task team on traffic management, Mr Ikharo Attah, has condemned the action of the truck driver.