The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), has directed commanding officers to step up patrol and strict enforcement of laws against overloading, use of rickety vehicles, and excessive smoke emission by vehicles.
The FRSC Corps Marshal, Dauda Ali-Biu said this during the Flag off of the Easter Mega Motor Park Rally Enlightenment campaign, at Nyanya Park on Thursday in Abuja.
Ali-Biu was represented by the Deputy Corps Marshal (DCM) in charge of operations, Mr Shehu Zaki.
He said that the Corps was working assiduously to ensure a significant shift in the attitude of motorists.
He said that the rally was imperative in view of the envisioned increase in vehicular and human movement across the country during the Easter holidays.
He said frequent road crashes were not caused by evil spirit, but bad driving habits and impatience.
“During the 2023 Easter special patrol operations which lasted between 6-12 April, 2023, the Corps recorded a total of 107 Road Traffic Crashes that involved 705 people.
“From these crashes, 81 people were killed, 345 victims injured while 279 people were rescued without injuries.
“This is unacceptable and the Corps has risen to surmount this very challenge by bringing sensitisation talks to the door steps of commuters.
“This will serve as a strategic intervention to reduce road traffic crashes and fatalities, in line with our 2024 corporate strategic goals.
“All commanding officer should, threfore, ensure strict enforcement on overloading and rickety vehicles this Easter to avert any form of traffic accidents on the road,” the corps marshal said.
Ali-Biu stressed that drinking and driving, use of worn out tyres, overloading, lane indiscipline, excessive speed, and wrong overtaking were serious traffic offences that posed threat to the lives of passengers, animals and drivers.
“Such bad driving behaviours are still threats to the state of road infrastructures which costs a lot of tax payers’ resources to produce.
“As part of efforts to deal with these challenges, the Corps came up with the idea of taking the message of safety down to all of us at the Motor Parks quite early.
“This is due to the critical role the union officials play on the road; as a prelude to massive deployment of personnel and logistics to the highways.
“This is particularly at the black spots for the containment of the perennial traffic gridlock and the accompanying hazards,” he added.
Mr Yusuf Alabi, the representative of National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), urged drivers to comply with traffic rules and regulations at all times.
Alabi pledged that the union would continue to support the FRSC in ensuring the message of safety was passed across to motorists in the country.
The event was attended by personnel of the Nigerian Police Force and Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps, among others.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the campaign is “Overloading is a Time Bomb: Stop the Deaths, Do not Overload with Persons, Animals or Goods”.
