Yobe: FRSC records 149 road crashes in 20 months

From Uche Uche, Damaturu.

Yobe state Sector Command of the Special Marshals said it recorded a total of 149 road traffic crashes between the year 2016 and 2017, with fatality figure of 78.
The state Sector Commander, Special Marshal in Yobe, Daniel D. Sayi who stated this yesterday on the occasion of the 2017 Special Marshal Sectoral workshop in Damaturu, disclosed that from January to October, 2016, the command recorded a total of 83 road crashes with 40 fatalities, while the figure dropped to a figure of 66 crashes with 38 fatalities in the year 2017, representing 20% and 5% respectively within the years under review.
He attributed the reduction in both crashes and fatalities to the laudable effort of the state governor, Alh. Ibrahim Gaidam in improved road construction projects in the state and the unrelenting efforts of the command staff.
He said the workshop gives the command the opportunity to take stock of their performance in the year and to further strategize for safety to prevail on the roads at all times, adding that with the caliber of people involved in the task of maintaining safety on the roads in the state, the marshals, there is no doubt that zero tolerance for road traffic crashes on the roads, as proclaimed by the FRSC corps would certainly be achieved.
He called on vehicle owners to among other things, always keep their vehicles safe, use seat belts, restrain from drinking and driving, excessive speeding, dangerous overtaking, playing while driving, night travelling.
Four papers were presented during the workshop, among which is ‘the right of Nigerian youth for road safety education; information sharing on how to avoid road crash and first aid management.
In the lead paper presented by Muhhamed A. Machina, record shows that Nigeria is ranked 191 out of 192 countries in the world with unsafe roads, with 162 death rate per 100,000 population from road traffic accident, and that the world health organization estimates over 1.3 million people are killed annually in road accidents while over 50 million people sustain different degrees of injuries from such crashes.