Accident in schools: Parents urged to be cautious

Against increasing rate of auto accidents around school premises, parents have been urged to be more cautious and not to park on roadsides when dropping their children in schools.

Speaking at a one-day sensitisation programme of schools located along roads in Ilorin metropolis, themed: “Combating Traffic Congestion in School Areas,” the Ilorin Unit Commander, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Mr. Nadir Zakari Mohammed, said that driving culture in the Ilorin metropolis is very poor.

The FRSC boss, who urged parents not to be in haste when taking or picking their children in schools, said that they should manage their time well, be patient and leave their homes earlier.

“We have an instance whereby a parent drops his child and use his vehicle to kill the same child. Parents should drop their children properly, most especially at schools that are closer to the road. They shouldn’t drop their children close to traffic and ensure that children are dropped in school.

“We have a record of crashes that happen due to this habit. Thus, we are teaching them how to control traffic in their school area. Generally, we have a department in FRSC that liaise with the government especially the Ministry of Works and FERMA. We enlighten them on the condition of the road.

“There are some roads that are so narrow. It is essential for the government to make it wide. By the time they widen the road they can do the pedestrian crossing, Zebra crossing or even bridge to assist the children when they are crossing the road. School authorities too have their responsibility to talk to the government what they want the government to do for them,” he said.

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Speaking further he said: “This programme is to sensitise the school management on how to combat the congestion we also experience around the school area. In the township most of these school are situated very close to the main road, when the parents are dropping their wards in the morning, they always congest the traffic and their concern is how to drop the children and go back to work, in the afternoon they come back to pick the child, they park indiscriminately on the road to pick the child not caring for other road users.

“This morning, we are now bringing in the school management to address them, to sensitise them on how to control traffic around their school area so that to reduce congestion. They can equally sensitise the parents when they bring in their wards not to park on the road, to park properly before they drop the ward and ensure that the wards are handed over to the school authority.

He also frowned at driving culture in Ilorin, saying that, “driving culture in Ilorin is very poor, we are trying our best to manage it. The average Ilorin driver doesn’t have a driver’s license. We are working with the transport unions on that. Most of them have fake licences. They never bothered to go through the basic procedure in obtaining driver’s licences.

Some of the schools present at the sensitisation programme expressed satisfaction. Kayode Rafiu of the Light Kiddies Academy, Ilorin, said that “the programme will enlighten the school in traffic control. I learnt a lot based on road crossing signs. It will help me to disseminate the message to people in my school on how we should maintain the rules on the road.”

“I’m very impressed with the programme, traffic congestion is a thing that is very common in school. We were taken to the road to show us how to control traffic in the entrance to our school area. We have been shown some of the traffic signs that we can use to control traffic and the way when parent bring their children to school, the way we should manage the congestion around our entrance,” said another participant from Christ Chapel School, Ilorin.