Detailed Explanation Of ‘Passenger Manifest’ & Why You Should Always Provide Accurate Information

In one way or the other, you must have come across  passenger manifest used for the various modes of transportation. Every passenger is expected to provide some basic information for proper documentation using  the passenger manifest.

A passenger manifest is a document listing passengers and crew of a ship, aircraft, or vehicle. It contains some basic information about the passengers.

Putting down the details of passengers on a manifest is an acceptable practice all over the world. When crashes occur, victims are easily identified. It also makes sorting easy for the issue of compensation arises.

As we all know, it is a common practice for some passengers not to put down their real names and other  required information. Perhaps they are not comfortable doing that.

There is a possibility that many of the people already declared missing are lying unconscious in some hospitals or the bodies are frozen in some hospital morgue or buried in mass graves as unidentified victims of road traffic crashes. This might be the outcome when passengers don’t provide useful information in the manifest.

When accidents occur, owners of transport, in conjunction with the government agencies, are able to contact the relations of victims, for them to know the victims whereabouts and render the necessary help or take on certain responsibilities. This is possible with the aid of the passenger manifest.

Inaccurate or no passenger data on the manifest may result to the following:

• Difficulty of identification of accident victims
• Congestion of hospitals and mortuaries by unidentified victims, at great expenses to the governments at all levels.
• Lack of proper medical attention for accident victims.
• Security problems of sorting out issues of missing persons.
• Pains and agonies of families of missing persons.

In a bid to avoid or minimize the above problems, he Federal Road Safety Commission working with other Stakeholders in the transport industry introduced the PASSENGER MANIFEST into the road transport system. The National Road Traffic Regulations, 2004 mandates commercial vehicle operators on inter-city or town movements to operate Passengers manifest.

Below is the usefulness of an accurate passenger manifest:

• Early /Easy identification of accident victims and quick contact with their next of kin to ensure adequate medical care and treatment.
• Improves general road traffic crash data, which is capable of determining new measures to sanitize the sector by the FRSC.
• Monitoring of vehicle owners for quick clearance and contact in times of accidents.
• Enhances quick clearance/ recovery of dead victims by their relatives.

a passenger manifest for Nigerians

Passengers are advised to desist from providing fictitious names. Correct information on the passenger manifest is for the benefits of all, especially the passengers. Here is an example. In a situation when a passenger is unconscious after involvement in crash. He won’t be able to disclose his names or the contact persons.

Please, the next time you would be traveling with a public transport, ensure you correctly put down  your full names, contact addresses, telephone numbers and next of Kin or persons to be contacted in case of an accident. Doing this does not mean you’re inviting crashes or disaster.