On December 19, 2016, the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) launched operation “Crash the Crash” campaign to reduce road traffic crashes during the Yuletide. CLEMENT IDOKO explores the importance of a change in the attitude of road users in order to guarantee safety on the highways.
When 24-year-old Joy Ameh woke up in the wee hours of December 23, 2016, full of joy and expectation, prepared and set off on a journey from Old Customs Quarters, Mararaba, Nasarawa State, to her hometown in Otukpo, Benue State, to celebrate the Christmas and New Year with her loved ones, she did not have the premonition that it was her journey to the great beyond.
Her dream was cut shut throwing her entire family members into deep sorrow, agony and mourning when the vehicle she boarded crashed shortly before entrancing into Makurdi, the Benue State Capital. Joy and four other passengers were not so lucky as they died instantly before help could get to them.
Sadly, Joy is believed to be among several others who lost their lives to road traffic crashes during the yuletide period. Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) reports indicates that road accidents claimed the lives of 187 people with over 1000 injured from between December 19 to 28, 2016. The report further showed that a total number of 289 road traffic crashes occurred nationwide involving 2185 people with 998 people rescued alive during this period.
More lives could have been lost if not for the prompt rescue operations of the operatives of the FRSC who were deployed strategically nationwide in the 2016 special “ember” month patrol christened, “Crash the Crash”. FRSC states that these figures were an improvement over last year’s in terms of deaths recorded and the high rate of road traffic crashes during such periods.
According to the Corps Marshal of FRSC, Dr Boboye Oyeyemi, the special operation which commenced on 19 December 2016 would last till 15 January 2017. He said considering the high volume of traffic during the festive period, the Corps involved other law enforcement agencies as well as transport unions with support from some civil society organisations with a focus to ensure free-flow of traffic, safe driving and prompt rescue operations.
He disclosed that the 2016 end of the year special patrol was planned after carrying out painstaking studies on traffic trends during this period. Accordingly, the Corps had massively deployed 36,000 of its personnel comprising the regular and Special Marshals and logistics such as power bikes, ambulances, patrol vehicles and traffic and rescue equipment to the critical corridors across the country.
The aerial component of the special patrol was also formally flagged off at the Domestic Wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja, with the aid of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF). “This assisted in monitoring traffic trends and giving prompt directives for remedial actions to boost the efficiency of the operations,” the Corps Marshal said.
According to him, “the end of year special patrol operations are organised by the FRSC as part of its commitment to addressing the challenges of increased human and vehicular traffic, perennial road obstructions and attendant road carnage that characterised the Yuletide period”.
He said “Crash the Crash” was a coinage to drive the safety message down to the motorists that accidents are preventable if necessary safety measures were taken including observing requisite speed limit and other safety regulations. The Corps also has other epigrammatic messages such as “Kill the speed before the speed kills you” bearing in mind that speed accounts for high rate of road traffic crashes in Nigeria.
He noted that the Corps’ Zebra formations as well as Road Traffic Crash Clinics have remained open to ensure quick response time to distress calls and emergencies in addition to utilisation of personnel of the FRSC Call Centre and all other necessary feedback mechanisms.
He also advised road users to ensure that their vehicles conform with safety standard such as having functional head/tail lights, wipers, tyres, fire extinguisher, caution sign and non-defective windscreen, disclosing that over 9619 offenders were arrested for 10970 offences while 1426 offenders were arraigned in mobile courts during the first weeks of the operation. Also, about 1292 offenders were convicted, five imprisoned and 129 of them discharged. The Corps had established over 200 mobile courts nationwide for the prosecution of road traffic offenders well ahead of the yuletide operations.
During the period under review, road traffic crashes claimed the lives of about 187 persons with 1000 injured from 19th December, 2016 when the Corps commenced the special “ember” months patrol across the country. The deaths occurred from a total number of 289 road traffic crashes nationwide involving 2185 number of people while 998 people were rescued alive.
FRSC report also indicated at the end of week 47 of 2016, 4,005 deaths were recorded from 7,657 crashes. It, however, showed that tremendous progress was made in the third quarter 2016 in respect of the 15 per cent reduction in road traffic crashes and 25 per cent in fatality rate.
There were also reports of recent road traffic accidents in some parts of the country including the one in Katsina on Monday, January 2 where three people died in an auto-crash at Karfi village on the Malumfashi-Funtua road in Malumfashi local government area of the state.
Dr Oyeyemi also commended President Muhammadu Buhari for his unflinching support to the Corps, saying earlier in the 2016 year, the Corps received 300 vehicles consisting of patrol vehicles, tow trucks and ambulances adding that this support with the commitment of the officers and men of the Corps contributed enormously to the efficiency recorded in the Corps’ operations during the outgoing year.
The Corps is however, operating not without some challenges which range from inadequate manpower, funding and violence of some recalcitrant traffic offenders among others.
Meanwhile, the elder brother to the late Joy Ameh, earlier mentioned, Mr Itodo Ameh, called on the Federal government to make concerted efforts in expansion and rehabilitation of road networks in Nigeria. According him, his younger sister died when the vehicles she was traveling in, had a head-on collision with an oncoming vehicle because of the tortuous and narrow nature of the road linking Benue State with Nasarawa.
Ameh, however, commended the FRSC operatives for their prompt response and rescue operations that saved the lives of many other occupants of the affected vehicles, saying eye-witness accounts of the accident revealed that there was quick response of FRSC operatives to the accident scene.
A Civil Servant, Mr Nathaniel Okechukwu, who said he returned back from his hometown on Monday for resumption of duty at the Federal Secretariat, Abuja, said he was impressed by the presence of FRSC officers at strategic locations on the highways. He said he was particularly glad that the operatives of the Corps were seen controlling traffic, especially at areas that are prone to gridlock and accident because of bad portion of the roads.
Okechukwu, said in addition to checking of vehicles for overloading, when the operatives notice a vehicle that is spreading, they tried to calm the driver down by moving ahead of the vehicle in order to slow down the movement of the vehicle. He suggested that FRSC should pursue the issue of installation of speed limiters in vehicles vigorously to reduce the work of the personnel of the Corps while at the same reduce the high rate of road accidents in the country.
President of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Alhaji Nazeem Yasin, the President of Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN), Alhaji Musa Shehu, who some of the strategic partners with FRSC, have identified with the special patrol operations and expressed their readiness to collaborate with the Corps in further tackling the challenges of road safety in the country.
Stakeholders have also called for attitudinal change by motorists and other road users so as to guarantee safety on the nation’s highways. This fact was buttressed by the FRSC Corps Marshal as he said, “Arise compatriots, the required change is a movement that all of must continue to pioneer”.