Road accidents involving buses claimed 1,437 lives in 6 months – FRSC

 

Road crashes involving buses claimed 1,437 lives across Nigeria between January and June, 2013, the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), has said.

The Corps Marshal, Mr Osita Chidoka, disclosed this on Friday in Sokoto at a sensitisation campaign on the newly introduced speed limiting device.

Chidoka, represented by Mr Alfred Oyeyemi, FRSC Zonal Commander, said that 1,397 buses were involved in road crashes during the period under review.

He said that the crashes claimed the lives of 1,437 people while 6,831 others were injured.

“From investigations and analysis of commuter vehicles carried out by the FRSC between 2007 and 2012, it was discovered that the Toyota Hiace buses were involved in 1,844 crashes.

“While it is important to note that Toyota Hiace is the dominant brand in the commuter bus category, we still hold the view that the crash record is not acceptable,” he said.

The Corps Marshal said that the sensitisation campaign was in furtherance of the efforts of the FRSC to ensure safer roads across Nigeria.

“The aggressiveness of the campaign arose out of our discovery from records of road traffic crashes within the last seven months of the year that speed violation accounted for about 65 per cent of the causative factors of road crashes and fatalities in the country,” Chidoka said.

In his remark, Sokoto State Sector commander of the FRSC, Dr Umar Aliyu, said that the speed limiting device would limit drivers not to exceed 100 km per hour.

“Several countries in the world like Kenya have started using this device and the result has been overwhelming,” he said.

He said that the sensitisation campaign was meant to create awareness on the hazard of speed violation and the need for drivers to install the device in their vehicles. (NAN)