Uyo – The Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) said on Sunday that it recorded 18 deaths in 39 road crashes in Akwa Ibom between January and October.
Sector Commander of the commission in the state, Mrs Cecilia Alao, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Uyo.
Alao said that 16 of the crashes which involved 194 persons were fatal, and attributed most of the incidents to over-speeding and violation of other traffic rules.
She, however, said that there was a significant decrease in the rate of accidents in the state during the period, when compared to 2014 which recorded loss of 22 lives in road crashes in six months.
“Since January to date, we have recorded 39 road crashes involving 194 persons and 16 of them were fatal.
“In all, 70 persons were injured and 18 lives were lost,” Alao said.
She said that the organisation would continue to fashion out strategies on how to minimise road accidents in the state, especially during ‘ember’ months.
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Alao said the command had been sensitizing the people to the need for the installation of speed limit device in all commercial vehicles to check over-speeding by drivers.
She commended Akwa Ibom Transport Company for keying into the FRSC speed limit device programme, announcing that no fewer than 200 vehicles in the company’s fleet had had the device installed in them.
She urged other transport operators in the state to install the device to minimize road crashes.
Alao also announced that the command would, this week, mark the remembrance of road traffic victims, with “It is Time to Remember; Say No to Road Crimes” as theme.
She said that the event was dedicated to millions of people worldwide who had lost their lives in road crashes, adding that statistics had shown that ages of majority of those who died in road crashes ranged from between 15 to 29.
“These are youths, the future of any nation; they are the ones that are being lost in road accidents every year.
“We are appealing to people to rise up and say no to road crimes.” (NAN)
