Within eight days in September, the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has recorded three landmark crashes that claimed the lives of 91 people, FRSC Corps Marshal, Shehu Mohammed, has lamented.
Speaking in a press briefing and meeting with stakeholders in Abuja on Thursday, he said the crashes included one that occured in Niger State on September 8, which claimed 48 lives, another in Sabon Wuse on the September 12, which claimed 18 lives as well as another in Kaduna State on September 15, claiming 25 lives. Hence, he said it called for concern.
According to him, the three crashes proved to have been obviously avoidable.
He frowned that while the government was doing its best to provide and maintain transport facilities in accordance with global best practices, some road users especially drivers continued to make a mockery of the efforts by exhibiting high level of recklessness on the roads.
He lamented that despite measures taken by the corps through the Road Transport Safety Standardization Scheme (RTSSS) launched to address issues with fleet operations in the country, there was a need to meet with the stakeholders.
Mohammed therefore directed commanding officers of the corps to ensure round the clock enforcement of traffic offences so as to mitigate the excesses immediately, stressing that a special patrol operation would be instituted and enforcement would be carried out nationwide.
He said the meeting was to address the current road safety challenges such as carrying inflammable substances, night trips, speeding, overloading and their devastating effects on the nations highways, hopefully after the meeting, road crashes would drastically reduce by the end of the year.
He noted that the challenges were a threat to the national health campaign and there was a need for collective action against carnage on the highways.
On his part, Representing Luxurious buses association, Chief Buruche Julius said luxurious buses prefer to travel at night because the roads were free at night to enable them travel conveniently.
He said the roads were in a bad shape due to several portholes as well as the various vehicles travelling in the day time who made the roads busy, hence, night travels were faster and safer for the luxurious buses adding that they have barely recorded crashes.
According to him, Road Safety officials have always trained and advised the drivers in how to be safety cautious while travelling, he added that managers of some luxurious buses also got managers to join in the journeys to monitor the drivers.
Speaking to journalist, President of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Alh. Abubakar Maigandi Shettima, noted that tanker drivers had been advised several times not to drive in the night which they try to adhere to.
He said that sometimes the accidents were caused due to the bad roads but assured that the tanker drivers would always be sensitised to do the right thing and avoid crashes.
