Yenagoa, – Mr Mathew Egbe, the new Sector Commander, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in Bayelsa, has urged road users to imbibe safe driving habits.
Egbe, who until his new deployment was working as the Corp Commander, Personnel, at the FRSC National Headquarters, Abuja, took over from Corp Commander Ibrahim Usman.
Egbe told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in an interview on Sunday in Yenagoa that FRSC Bayelsa under his watch will keep Bayelsa route safe and accidents-free.
He said: “Since my assumption of duty, I have gone round the accident-prone areas and we are making efforts to make sure that during the ‘Ember’ months, the routes are manned very well.
“Public enlightenment will be done in several parts so that the people will know what to do during the Ember months.
“During this rainy season, officers are ready to enlighten the drivers to be conscious at any particular time because the life of those passengers are in their hands.
“I just finished a meeting with fleet operators and one of the things we discussed was insurance, the life of anybody that boards a vehicle from point A to B is in the hands of the company.
“So they are supposed to insure all the passengers.
“They have the responsibility to take their passengers from Bayelsa to Port-Harcourt or to Lagos. Until those people disembark in those areas, it is still the responsibility of the company.
“However, he said Bayelsa is a peaceful area as the rate of crashes here is not as high as other places.
“We as FRSC are going to do our best to ensure that road crashes are reduced to the barest minimum, because we have a mandate to accomplish a 5 per cent reduction in road traffic deaths and injuries,” he said.
The new Commander said night journey have been banned by FRSC, but regretted that some people still prefer to move in the night
“We are saying that if it is early evening let your lighting system be in order and make sure that you have a good visibility on where you are going to.
“Do not be on speed in the night in this rainy season, let your tyres be in good order so that the grip on the road will be firm when you apply the brakes,” he said.
Egbe, said his expectations in Bayelsa is zero accident or crash levels, urging motorists to always check their tyres, horn and indeed the entire system in their vehicles.
He noted that “if pedestrians cross the road and the vehicle does not have horn and the person is hit, it is but a crash, because the driver did not do the needful.
He advised Bayelsa people to always check their vehicles to ensure that the lighting systems are working, tyres and everything about the car before they enter the road.
On the new public transport vehicles bought and launched by the Bayelsa government, he said they will liaise with the Ministry of Transport to ensure safety.
He assured that the FRSC will engage the drivers of the vehicles to educate them and advise them before they are put to use, and to ensure that they are road-worthy.
He said the FRSC in Bayelsa will soon carry out a sensitization campaign to all motorists in Bayelsa, on “Operation Show Your Light”. (NAN)