NEWS DIGEST–The Federal Road Safety Corps yesterday said 1,602 died in 2,805 road crashes recorded in the last quarter of 2017.
Speaking yestearday in Jos, the Plateau State capital, at a safe motoring campaign flag-off, FRSC Corps Mashal Boboye Oyeyemi said the corps would be strict on its conduct of vision acuity tests to ensure all drivers on the roads do not have defective eyesight.
Represented by the Corps Commander (Operations) in Zone 4 Headquarters, Imoh Etuk, Oyeyemi said the enforcement programme would be running concomitantly with the enlightenment campaigns, especially ‘Operation Cobra,’ initiated to curb offences such as light violation, drink driving, dangerous driving, use of phones while driving and route violation, to ensure sanity on the highway.
“In the months of September, October, November and December 2017, the total number of crashes recorded was 2,805. The number of deaths was 1,602 and 20,196 people were involved. The corps has resolved to trend down the figures listed above by a huge margin, and this can only be achieved with the cooperation of all road safety stakeholders. There is also the need for drivers to have their driving licences, highway codes and change from old number plates to new number plates for uniformity of the corps’ licencing scheme which will be captured in the central database of the FRSC,” he said.
In her remarks, the Plateau State FRSC Sector Commander, Patricia Emeordi, said more personnel, including regular, special marshals and road safety club members would be deployed to highways within the cities and towns.
She added that to ensure crash-free and free flow of traffic in the season, there would be an increase in motor park rallies, public enlightenment in churches and mosques, early morning safety ‘cries’ at motor parks and garages, and pre-trip inspection of vehicles, among others.
