The Federal Road Safety Corps on Tuesday said 3,389 road crashes were recorded nationwide from January to August this year as against 6,353 recorded within the same period in 2009.
Public Education Officer, Samuel Obayemi, said this in Lagos at the 3rd edition of the Don’t Drink and Drive Campaign organised by the Nigerian Breweries Plc in collaboration with the Commission.
Obayemi noted that the 2010 figure showed a 43.81 per cent decrease in road accidents.
The number of persons killed in 2010 within this period is 2,441 as against 4,142 recorded in 2009 41.07 per cent decrease, there is also a sharp decline in the number injured which is 11,256 as against 17,224 recorded in 2009 35.6 per cent decrease, he said.
He said the number of arrests made by the corps increased from 290,725 in 2009 to 383, 540 in 2010.
This is traceable to the fact that we have more commands and more patrol vehicles, thereby covering more kilometers.
We hope that before long, as we unrelentingly pursue the various programmes aimed at actualising safe use, even the arrests will become minimal,Obayemi said.
He said the sustenance of the Don’t Drink and Drive Campaign had become a necessary strategy to entrench sanity on the roads.
Plans are underway to work out modalities for the purchase of breathalysers which the corps is already discussing about with the Nigerian Breweries, he added.
According to the officer, the breathalysers will aid the corps in effectively determining the level of alcohol intake of motorists while driving.
Obayemi said road safety remained a collective responsibility, and urged that other corporate organisations should contribute their quota toward it.
The Nigerian Breweries Public Affairs Manager West, Vivien Ikem, said the company was partnering with Commission in organising the campaign to discourage drink-driving and reduce road accidents.
Ikem, who was represented by the company’s Corporate Affairs Adviser, Yusuf Ayeni, hoped that the campaign would continue to create public awareness on road safety especially by commercial motorcyclists.
The Don’t Drink and Drive Campaign is designed to promote responsible drinking among drivers and other road users, create awareness about the dangers of drink- driving and reduce alcohol –induced road accidents.
He said the company had in 2009 donated 7,500 the Commission -certified crash helmets to commercial motorcyclists in five selected cities in the country in a bid to improve road safety.
This year, we sustained that support with the distribution of 6,000 helmets in another five selected cities, Ikem said.
He explained that the number of helmets distributed by the company decreased this year because many states were banning the use of commercial motorcyclists in cities.
No comments:
Post a Comment