60% of accidents in Ogun caused by articulated vehicles – FRSC

60% of accidents in Ogun caused by articulated vehicles – FRSC
NAN-H-
Accidents
By Abiodun Lawal
Abeokuta, Nov. 1, 2016 (NAN) The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) says about 60 per cent of road crashes in Ogun are caused by drivers of articulated vehicles.
FRSC Sector Commander in Ogun, Clement Oladele, disclosed this when he visited the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Abeokuta.
He added that most of the accidents that occurred on the highways were avoidable if the drivers shunned over-speeding.
According to him, some of the 10 most dangerous highways in the country are in Ogun, going by road accidents recorded in recent times.
He said that some of the highways in the state included Lagos/Ibadan, Lagos/Abeokuta, Abeokuta/Sagamu and Odeda/Ibadan roads.
The sector commander said that the number of road crashes recorded in Ogun rose from 32 in August to 47 in September this year.
Oladele expressed the FRSC’s commitment to address the root causes of high rate of road crashes in the state.
“We recognise that almost 60 per cent of these fatal crashes are caused by these articulated vehicles, so we want to get to the root, so that we can address it.
“The FRSC is beginning to remove abandoned vehicles; we have to ensure that there is no obstruction that can cause road crashes,’’ said the FRSC boss.
Oladele said that FRSC in Ogun had prepared a strategic document which would be driven by the people to reduce accidents and loss of lives on the highways.
According to him, the document would have the inputs of all stakeholders to devise means on how to make the roads safer.
On speed limiting device, the FRSC official said that majority of the drivers were yet to acquire the device introduced to check over-speeding and reduce road accidents.
“Between Oct. 1 and Oct 29, we have stopped 3,670 vehicles in the state and only 43 have the speed limiting device.
“We have encouraged transport unions to contact the vendors and be paying by instalment to enable them acquire the device.
“By Jan. 1, we are going to arrest any vehicle that does not have speed limiter,” he said.
Earlier, Alhaji Kunle Olayeni, the Chapel Chairman, assured of its readiness to collaborate with the FRSC in reducing accidents on the roads. (NAN)
LKA/DUA/WOJ
(Edited by Dada Ahmed / Wale Ojetimi)
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