The Federal Road Safety Corps has said there was a decline in the number of road accidents, injuries, and deaths recorded during the 2023 Eid-el-Kabir celebration.
The agency said during the just concluded celebration, road crashes reduced to 25 per cent, injuries 43 per cent while the number of deaths decreased to 53 per cent.
In a statement on Wednesday by the Corps Public Education Officer, Bisi Kazeem, FRSC attributed the reduction to the agency’s revamped operational tactics.
It partly read, “In line with its rejigged operational tactics towards creating a safer motoring environment in Nigeria, the Federal Road Safety Corps has successfully recorded 25% reduction in the total number of Road Traffic Crashes, 53% decrease in people killed, and 43% reduction in number of people injured in crashes that involved 522 people on Nigerian roads during the 2023 Eid-El Kabir special patrol operations that held from June 26 to July 1, 2023.”
He added that 88 were killed in crashes in 2022 as against the 38 recorded in 2023 while 373 were injured in 2022 as against the 211 recorded in 2023.
Kazeem said, “In the special patrol operation that lasted for six days, the Corps recorded a total of 88 RTCs as against 118 of the same period in 2022 representing a 25% reduction. In the same vein, a total of 38 people were killed, against 88 in the previous year representing a 53% decrease, while 211 people got injured in 2023 against 373 in 2022 representing a 43% decrease.”
Kazeem added, “The Corps also rescued a total of 273 victims without injuries in 2023 against 347 in the same period in the year 2022. More so, a total of 4116 offenders were apprehended over 4682 offences committed across 2053 routes covered by the Corps.
“The huge record of reduction in road traffic crashes during the 2023 celebration period came as a result of improved and rejigged patrol operations, robust public enlightenment campaign, injection of more operational vehicles for enhanced visibility, prompt rescue services, enhanced stakeholder collaboration, wider coverage of the national road network due to the establishment of more FRSC Commands, Outposts roadside clinics and Zebra points among others.”
He said the Corps Marshal, Dauda Biu, pledged that the Corps would sustain the tempo and enhance its effort towards entrenching safety on all roads.
To ensure a further reduction in crashes on the road, the Corps Marshal also urged the public to be disciplined and practice safe road use culture by giving maximum cooperation to FRSC personnel and other traffic law enforcers on the highways
