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The Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Boboye Oyeyemi, has appealed to Nigerians to always abide by traffic rules and regulations for the success of the campaign against road carnage in the country, saying road safety is a shared responsibility which all road users must be active participants.
Oyeyemi made the appeal while addressing the media on the special intervention patrol and road audit exercises carried out by some senior officers of the FRSC along some critical corridors in the geopolitical zones of the country.
According to the Corps Marshal, with adequate safety measures, effective management of traffic and people’ obedience to traffic rules and regulations, the usual fatalist attitude to traffic crashes could be demystified.
While commending the Federal Government for its pro-road safety policies and programmes, the Corps Marshal noted that the National Executive Council’s endorsement of the Nigeria Road Safety Strategy (NRSS) document as well its logistics support through provision of operational vehicles demonstrates the interest that the President has in the safety and security of the people.
“The Corps has been committed to its resolve to realize the 2016 corporate strategic goals of reducing road traffic crashes by 15% and fatalities by 20%,” he stated.
Oyeyemi described road traffic crashes as a global phenomena that has more debilitating effects in developing countries with attendant cases of poor infrastructural platforms, legal framework and definite goals towards addressing the menace of road traffic crashes. He noted that the annual global statistics on road crash fatalities stands at about 1.24 million people and road traffic injuries have become the leading cause of death among young people, aged 15-29 years.
“In addition, 91% of the world’s fatalities on the roads occur in low and middle-income countries, even though these countries have approximately half of the world’s vehicles,” he observed.
He warned that if adequate measures are not taken by relevant stakeholders to address the challenges of road carnage in developing countries, road traffic crashes could become the third killer of mankind killing about 1.9 million people by 2020.
