By DAVID ADUGE-ANI

Worried by the increasing violation of traffic regulations by motorists in Abuja, some taxi drivers have called on the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Directorate of Road Traffic Services (DRTS) to reintroduce mobile courts on Abuja roads.

President of Painted Abuja Taxi (PAT), Comrade Shehu Shugaba Yar’Adua, made the call in an interview with our reporter, noting that the presence of mobile courts on Abuja roads would restore sanity.

Yar’Adua frowned at the manner in which motorists in the FCT violate traffic regulations with impunity, stressing that something urgent must be done to arrest the situation.

He pointed out that in the past, when mobile courts were operational on Abuja roads, motorists were not as lawless as they are today.

The PAT president maintained that it is not proper for Road Traffic Officers (RTOs) to arrest motorists for traffic offences and at the same time collect fines for the offences committed.

“The Road Traffic Officers (RTOs) cannot become accusers and judges at the same time. The law requires that when you arrest a motorist for a traffic offence, you refer the person to a judge, so that such a person can be prosecuted if found guilty.

It is only the courts that have the right to prosecute or find someone guilty of an offence. It is not the right of the Police, the Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIOs), or the Road Traffic Officers (RTOs) to do that.

That is why I liked what the former Director of FCT-DRTS, Wadata Aliyu Bodinga, did—he used mobile courts to try traffic offenders on Abuja roads. That is how it should be. When you arrest a traffic offender, allow the courts to try such an offender. It brought sanity on Abuja roads, because motorists became more conscious of traffic regulations,” he said.