The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has debunked the popular myth that blood sucking demons lay siege to travellers to claim lives during the ember months.
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports the FRSC to have said “there is no devil killing people during the ember months” and that “drivers only need to change their mindset and attitude on the roads”.
FRSC, Lagos State Sector Command, debunked the myth while stressing that if stakeholders in the transport sector would join hands to push out hard drugs and alcoholic beverages from motor parks, road fatalities would reduce.
The FRSC Sector Commander, Mr Babatunde Farinloye, made this remark at the 2023 Ember Months Road Safety Campaign Flag Off on Thursday at the Costain Unit Command, Lagos State.
“Sale of alcoholic beverages in Nigeria is becoming a social norm. It is the acceptability that is causing problems on roads.
“If the transport unions and elders in the sector work hard and make it a law that people will not be allowed to sell all these alcoholic beverages and drugs at motor parks, the roads will be safer.
“If smokers and sellers of these drugs can be pushed out of the motors park, crashes and fatalities on the roads will reduce,” Farinloye said.
According to Farinloye, “there is no devil that is killing people during Ember Months. Drivers only need to change their mindset and attitude on the roads.”
He said that wrong attitude of drivers on the roads was responsible for 80 per cent of crashes and fatalities on the roads, and not the vehicles or the roads.
The FRSC boss said: “Road users should rather change their attitude. Do what is right by obeying all the traffic rules and traffic managers.
“To have safer roads these Ember Months, road users must avoid dangerous driving, speeding, use of alcohol and phone while driving, overloading, wrongful overtaking and other life-threatening infractions.
“We are concerned about precautionary measures to end carnages on the roads.
“We should learn how to share roads with other people by having consideration for other road users with defensive driving intelligence to ensure safety of lives and properties.”
He said that enforcement of the law would not do the magic, but attitudinal change that would make road users have empathy for others.
Also stressing the importance of vulcanisers and motor mechanics in reducing fatalities to zero, Farinloye urged them to work conscientiously, “knowing fully well that the lives of commuters are in their hands.
“Their carelessness can lead to high fatality index. If they can do the work conscientiously, life will be better for all,” he said.
The FRSC boss said that the commission would synergise with other agencies in the enforcement of laws and prompt rescue services.
Expressing concerns over fatalities on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Farinloye attributed carnages to lane indiscipline, disobedience to traffic rules and speeding because the expressways are usually wide and smooth.
The FRSC boss said: “We enjoin road users to take good advantages of the smooth roads, and not to make it a ticket to death”.
On unlatched containers, the FRSC boss called on stakeholders and fleet operators to brace up and think safety first, adding that many of the trucks and tankers were too old to be on the roads.
Speaking, the FRSC Unit Commander, Costain Command, Mr Oludele Okelola, said that the campaign was an integral component of the corps’ strategic interventions towards elevating motorists’ consciousness to the realities of road traffic crashes.
Okelola, who described the theme of the campaign: “Speed Thrills But Kills: Drive Responsibly, Avoid Over-Loading” as apt, saying that the awareness was to show the mind blogging implications of road fatalities on Nigerians and societies.
According to him, speed has been identified globally as a causal or aggravating element in almost 96 per cent of road traffic crashes as well as over loading, irresponsibility of drivers, driving under influence of drugs and Alcohol, fatigue among others.
“Nobody’s life has to be untimely terminated as an inevitable price for mobility on the road. We must remind ourselves and reiterate that crashes are self-destructive occurrences.
“We are the prime causal agents: We are the victims and we must be the solution. The privilege to drive on the highway imposes a responsibility on every driver,” he said.
In his goodwill message, Mr Sulaiman Yusuf, the Chairman of Surulere Local Council, appealed to transport workers to heed all road traffic laws to make commuters stay alive.
Yusuf, who was represented by Mr Kehinde Agoro, the Secretary to the Local Government, said that drivers had killed so many people untimely because of impatience and carelessness.
The event was attended by FRSC Special Marshalls representatives of the Police, Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), Vehicles Inspection Service (VIS) and other security agencies.
