The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) says a total of 850 road traffic crashes were recorded in the FCT resulting in 159 deaths and 1,572 injuries between January and November.
The Sector Commander, RS7.1 Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr Oga Ochi, disclosed this at the 2021 Special Marshal Sectorial Workshop on Saturday in Abuja.
The theme of the workshop is, “Volunteerism beyond Ember Months: the Role of Special Marshals in Combating Road Traffic Crashes”.
Ochi identified exceeding the speed limit as one of the major challenges confronting road use in the FCT owing to a number of good roads within the territory.
He said the road users often took advantage of the good roads and tended to `over’ speed, adding that 75 per cent of the crashes was as a result of over speeding.
“Between January and Nov. 19, 2021, a total of 850 road traffic crashes (RTC) was recorded in the FCT resulting in 159 deaths and 1572 injuries.
“This trend if not quickly addressed and reversed could constitute a major impediment to the economic growth of FCT.
“The giant challenges occasioned by increasing rate of RTCs are the lack of obedience to traffic rules, impatience on the part of road users and relative lack of acknowledge of road code.
“The tasks of reversing the trend as contained in the decade of action for Road Safety 2021- 2030 required that Special Marshals must brace up to greater performance beyond Ember Months Campaign.
“We must take advantage of the conducive environment created by the able leadership of the Corps and FCT to maximize our service delivery to road users in the FCT,’’ he said.
Ochi urged all Special Marshals not to use the workshop as a time to reflect on past and present strategies with the aim of achieving ‘zero road death’.
He commended the Special Marshals for their tremendous impact on all forms of road safety activities in the FCT.
According to him, they have been effective in patrol operations, public enlightenment, provision and renovation of offices, rescue operations, involvement in research work, traffic control, holding of town hall meetings, and visit to churches/mosques among others.
The Zonal Coordinator, RS7, Mr Usman Adaji, said the special marshal volunteers had remained committed to ensuring that there was sanity on the roads in the FCT.
Adaji urged the volunteers to submit themselves to the rules and regulations guiding the road safety activities, urging them to ensure discipline, dedication and spirit of cooperation towards achieving the mandate of FRSC.
According to him, special marshal is the voluntary arm of FRSC and when you come in you have to submit yourself to the rules and regulation of the corp.
The FCT Coordinator, Mr Sani Adisa, thanked the corps marshal and his commanders for the opportunity for the special marshals to restrategise towards contributing their quota to road safety activities.
Adisa said there was a positive turn around in the FCT and RS7.1 sector command going by the influence of special marshal job in complementing the activities of the corps.
He said the residents of the FCT were getting adequate messages as regards road safety through the commitment of the special marshals to patrols.
According to him, the marshals are committed to ensuring that FRSC succeeds in delivering its mandates and also ensure that RTC is drastically reduced on Nigerian roads especially in the yuletide season.
(NAN)
