Lagos, Sept. 20, 2023 -The Lagos Command of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) on Wednesday said no fewer than 75 passengers lost their lives in road accidents in the state between January and August.
The Sector Commander, Babatunde Farinloye, said this in Lagos, adding that 1,611 passengers were involved in the crashes.
He also said there were 158 fatal cases and 102 minor ones.
Farinloye said the command deployed 324 of its personnel to checkpoints to ensure safety during the period.
He advised motorists and pedestrians to imbibe a safety culture to reduce the road accidents.
“The last four months of the year, popularly referred to as “ember months” are here once again.
“Motorists’ claim of evil characteristics of these months are figments of the imagination of all that belong to that school of thought.
“Nothing differs between the months of January to August and these so-called ember months than the changes in our consciousness and attitude about safety.
“Only socio-economic, cultural and religious engagements are on the increase, resulting in an upsurge of vehicular movements and careless attitude.
“So, the FRSC’s concern, at all times, is bringing down the rate of road accidents.
“Measures advocated by the corps include sensitisation of motorists through advocacy at the parks, public places, churches, mosques, etc.
“It also includes awareness of the state of vehicles through the free vehicles safety checks, free drivers training by the corps, and vehicle inspection through the safe-to-load programmes at the ports, tank farms, and designated parks where personnel of the corps is assigned.
“Also, regulation of fleet operations by Road Transport Safety Standardisation Scheme, and daily monitoring and surveillance of the highways by the corps’ patrol teams,” Farinloye said.
He said that the 2023 Campaign for Safety for the rainy season and ember months had kicked off with the theme: “Speed Thrills, It Kills, Drive Responsibly and Avoid Overloading.”
Farinloye said that the campaign would go round the state and entire country, adding that responsible drivers would always keep to regulated speed limits, and ensure their vehicles are routinely maintained.
He said they would not receive or make phone calls while driving engage in any other form of misconduct, nor indulge in speeding or drunk driving.
He assured that the state would witness robust traffic monitoring and management with the injection of additional logistics to the command operations by its management.
The sector commander said that all hands must be on deck by all stakeholders to ensure crash-free ember months and beyond.
