94 die in 324 Gombe road accidents in 10 Months ― FRSC

94 die in 324 Gombe road accidents in 10 Months ― FRSC

A total of 94 people have been killed and 821 injured in 324 road crashes recorded in the last 10 months in Gombe State.

The disclosure was made by the Sector Commander of the Gombe State Command of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Felix Theman during the flagging off of the annual end of a special operation tagged ‘Ember’ month’s road safety campaign.

The Sector Commander said that those accidents were fatal and ghastly as recorded across the state appealing to motorists, motorcyclists and other road users to always obey the traffic rules with a view to mitigating accidents and deaths.

He also said that the command will collaborate with the state Ministry of Health to get additional Ambulances for rapid response at accident-prone areas across the state during the ember months and festivities.

Theman further said that the command has received three new vehicles from the headquarters in Abuja to ensure smooth operations in the state.

While noting that most accidents are caused by over-speeding and recklessness, he explained that in order to address the problem, FRSC had in recent times organized training for driving school proprietors and instructors on safety while on the road behind the steering wheel.

This is even as he said that as part of measures to reduce road crashes in the ember months, the commission intensifies the search for unlicensed drivers.

In his remarks, the deputy governor of Gombe, Manasseh Jatau explained that ever since the establishment of the FRSC in 1988 by the Military regime of former Military President, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, it has been doing its best within its limited resources, to educate, enlighten, enforce compliance and applied the reward and sanctions/measures to ensure that Road Traffic Crashes (RTC) are reduced to the barest minimum among the population.

According to him, Some of its very visible activities are patriotic patrolling of the roads and the sustenance of campaigns so as to attain the goals and mandate for which it was established.

Jatau said that “Quite noticeable is the Ember months campaign that has come up with a theme every year, based on the observation of the trend of activities in the road transport subsector of the nation.”

He said that “While the theme of 2021 was ‘Maintain Safe Speed, Avoid Night Driving and Enjoy Quality Road Experience’, this year’s (2022) theme is ‘Avoid over-speeding, Overloading

and unsafe tyres to arrive alive’.

Also speaking, the State Secretary of the National Association of Road Transport Operators (NARTO), Sani Ibrahim commended FRSC for doing everything possible to make the roads safe for users assuring that his members will continue to cooperate with FRSC personnel.

The Secretary of the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) Shuaibu Mohammed warned drivers in the state to avoid driving while on drugs so as not to kill innocent people.

The duo also warned their members against night journeys considering the terrible nature of the roads across the country.