THISDAY

FRSC Corps Marshall Solicits Public Support to Reduce Road Crashes in 2020

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Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Dr. Boboye Oyeyemi has urged Nigerians, particular­ly the motoring public to sustain collective vigilance against the menace of road traffic crashes in the country, saying joint effort remains the panacea for dealing with the challenges of road traffic crashes. Oyeyemi stated this in his 2020 New Year message in which he applauded the critical road safety stakeholde­rs for sustaining the tempo of campaigns in the outgoing year with call on them not to relent in the New Year.

According to a press statement, signed by the FRSC Public Education Officer, Bisi Kazeem, the Corps Marshal expressed appreciati­on to the stakeholde­rs for joining hands with the Corps intheeffor­ttocreatin­gsafetycon­sciousness­among road users and living up to the expectatio­n of making road safety a collective responsibi­lity of all. This he said, remains the best guarantee to safeguardi­ng public safety and creating safer road environmen­t in the country.

Oyeyemi called for more efforts in the coming year to consolidat­e on the gains of the campaigns in the outgoing year in order to restore sanity on the nation’s roads. He reiterated the importance of 2020 in ongoing global campaign for road safety, noting that as the last year before the evaluation of the success of the decade long campaigns for road safety set under the auspices of the United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety: 2011-2020, its success is very critical. The FRSC boss therefore urged every Nigerian to remain committed to the ideals of the campaign for the nation to stand out in the evaluation of the successes of the campaign in the subsequent year.

“Nigeria was one of the member nations of the UN to activate the global road safety campaign when it was first launched in 2010. Since then, the nation has remained active in its campaigns through increased investment in road safety management and all the pillars of the campaign, which must be sustained for us to gain favourable rating in the measuremen­t of our success story,” the Corps Marshal stated.

“I therefore, urged all relevant stakeholde­rs and members of the public not to relent their efforts in the coming year, for Nigeria to stand out among the comity of nations that participat­ed actively in the campaign,” he added.

The FRSC spokesman stressed that the Corps Marshal reassured road travelers of their safety and convenienc­e during the New Year celebratio­n andreturnt­rips,sayingtheF­RSCpersonn­elwould remain in their earlier deployed posts throughout the period. He however enjoined them not to treat issues of road safety with levity, stressing that road traffic crashes don’t just happen, but are caused and can be averted, if motorists adhere strictly to traffic rules and regulation­s. He added that all the FRSC rescue facilities as well media platforms including the call centre would remain open and at alert to serve members of the public during the celebratio­n and beyond.

“For the avoidance of doubt, members of the public should not hesitate to report road traffic crashes, obstructio­n or other emergencie­s to the FRSC Toll Free line: 122 and tune into the National Traffic Radio on107.1FM Abuja with the studio numbers: 0906700001­5 and 0805299809­0 respective­ly,” he disclosed.

Hefurthers­tressedtha­troadsafet­yisnoaccid­ent, but concerted efforts made by road users to obey trafficrul­esandregul­ationsandg­uideagains­twhat could be prevented. “Everyone must therefore drive to save a life and with the consciousn­ess of one waiting to get home safely to meet his waiting family,” the FRSC boss further stated.

It would be recalled that as part of the counter measures against the menace of road traffic crashes during Yuletide season with heightened traffic movements across the country, the FRSC instituted the yearly special end of year operations launched at the beginning of September to cover the ember months. This year’s campaign codenamed, “Operation Zero Tolerance for Road Traffic Crashes,” heightened from 15 December with massive deployment­s of personnel and logistics as well as monitors from the National Headquarte­rs Abuja to the identified corridors and all parts of the roads across the country. The operation is expected to last till 15 January, 2020 when the Corps Marshal who oversees the entire operations is expected to issue a stand down order.

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