While addressing the general public and looking at the road safety problems objectively, has this to say, that it is might not be fair to completely attribute road crashes to the state of Nigerian roads alone because the human factor remains a prevailing variable as well,
Corps Public Education Officer, Federal Road Safety Corps, Commander Imoh Etuk, further said that is the wrong usage of the roads that causes most of the crashes and not always the poor road condition.
This factor, he said, explains why the FRSC invest heavily on awareness campaigns and other forms of advocacy to engender best road practices from road users across the country.
Etuk said from empirical studies conducted, speed limit violation remains a prevailing factor for road traffic crashes in the country. He said this informed the FRSC collaboration with the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), National Automotive Council (NAC) and other relevant stakeholders to initiate the speed limiting device as part of measures to address the menace of speed-related road crashes.
There is also the re-certification of commercial drivers including routine medical checks and other proactive strategies towards addressing the menace of road crashes involving heavy duty vehicles.
Etuk, who spoke on the need to ensure safety especially as Yuletide approaches, said the FRSC has started its campaign for this period with: “Operation Sanity: Drive Safely into 2016,” as its theme. According to him, it is part of FRSC resolve to drastically reduce the spate of road traffic crashes during the Ember season.
Also, the introduction of the Driving School Standardisation Programme (DSSP) by the FRSC, Etuk further explained, is a further step at ensuring safety. The DSSP is a programme aimed at evolving minimum uniform standards for driving schools in Nigeria. DSSP seeks to regulate the establishment of Driving Schools in Nigeria, in line with Section 5 (f) of the FRSC Establishment Act 2007.
