Road casualty: Nigeria second highest in the world – FRSC

From Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

Nigeria is said to be the second highest country with road traffic accident fatalities out of 193 countries captured by the World Health Organization (WHO) in the world. The Kaduna Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps, Imrana Ibrahim has disclosed.

Ibrahim in a paper, titled: “Contemporary issues on FRSC regulatory and enforcement: The role of Special Marshal” he delivered during a Sectoral workshop of Special Marshal and Partnership Department of the Corps, held in Kaduna state, stated that road traffic accidents are the third leading cause of deaths in the country and have led to the death of men, women, boys and girls.

“Road crashes are the leading global cause of death for young people aged 10-24, and by 2015 are predicted to be the leading cause of premature death and disability for children in developing countries aged five and above.

“According to UNICEF and the WHO, 260,000 children die and another 10 million are injured in road crashes every year,” Ibrahim said.

Speaking further, Ibrahim said the mandate of the Federal Road Safety Corp (FRSC) include public education for road users; clearing of  obstructions on roads; giving prompt attention and care to road crash victims; enforcement of traffic rules and regulations; designing and production of number plates and drivers licence among others, and conducting researches into causes of motor accidents and methods of preventing them.

The Route Commander said, FRSC in its effort to curb road traffic crashes (RTC) had adopted the use of public education as a main tool to ensure regulatory enforcement through, the media, motor park rallies and mobile rallies.

Similarly, the Corps in an effort at enforcing this rule has also adopted the use of legal platform (mobile court) to enforce traffic regulations; use of mobile patrol; state patrol and special intervention patrol to curb road offenders.

In his own remark, the Kaduna State Coordinator, Special Marshal, Adebayo Ahmed Omodara said the role of Special Marshals on Nigeria roads cannot be under estimated, saying it is therefore necessary to  enlighten special marshals for them to be able to provide safety needed on Nigeria roads.