BENIN CITY- Edo State Sector Commander, Federal Road Safety Corps, (FRSC), Mr. Henry Benamaisia has stated that the Executive Governor of Edo State, His Excellency, Mr. Godwin Obaseki will flag off the FRSC Ember months activities at the Tipper Garage, Ikpoba Hill on October 26, 2022, with members of the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN,) National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW,) affiliate unions and other critical key stakeholders in attendance.
Speaking on the activities scheduled for the ember months by the Edo State Sector of the FRSC, he said the line up of activities for this period is based on a research carried out by the command which include acts of indiscipline, intolerance and impatience by drivers as direct causes of road traffic crashes (RTC) in Benin City.
Cautioning drivers to drive with care during the rainy periods, especially now during the “Ember months” which are the four last months of the year, the commander pointed out, that “During this period, the traffic situation all over the country is heightened. As a result we all in the Federal Road Safety Corps put a lot of machinery in place to take care of the traffic. We also put machinery in place to take care of crashes.”
He blamed three factors responsible for RTC’s in our environment which are the human factor, which is responsible for ninety percent (90%) of RTC (driving on bad road and still go on excessive speed); the mechanical factor which has to do with vehicle condition while the environmental factor has to do with rain.
He insisted that the Ember months are not evil months because bad things occur to people due to misplaced priorities and they want to show off during the Christmas period hence the precautionary measures put in place by the Edo Sector Command to, “Put our vehicles in strategic places so that our visibility would be massive.
“Also, there would be ambulance points and two heavy duty tow trucks would be sent to the roads on standby to remove obstruction so that there would not be traffic jams. We will be backed by the Tow Truck Association which would deploy their tow trucks to places we cannot get to.
“We have earmarked or delineated the state into twenty one (21) areas where we are going to have our men taking care of critical points and places. Apart from the traffic control which we will be doing, men will be on standby to man the entry and exit points of the state” he added
The ember months enlightenment, advocacy visit and rally would go on simultaneously in the state, he said, adding, “We also have church and mosque visitation because we believe that most of these persons that drive on our roads belong to one religion or the other. We also visit other critical government organizations and private stakeholders.
He noted that the FRSC will not be working alone during this period but in synergy with other sister agencies such as the Civil Defense Corps, the Nigeria Police, and the Immigration within the period.
Making a review of RTC cases for Year 2021 for the months of January to August against Year 2022, with same months in review, he put out figures thus’.
“As of last year, 2021, the number of deaths from January to August was 105 while there was a total number of 21 minor cases in which there was impact on vehicles without recorded physical injuries. For the same months in review for 2022, there were 99 death cases with 28 minor cases.”
“No doubt, comparatively, these figures are clear pointers that there are lesser death cases this year with a slight increase in minor RTC cases when viewed with RTC data for last year,” he added
He encouraged drivers to engage themselves more with defensive driving through the adequate use of side and inner mirrors to look at all sides and directions, learning to give braking or accident distance between them and other cars while driving, backed by the mindset that the letter ” L” which stands for “Learner” could also stand for “Lunatic” hence the need to avoid road rage to stem incidents of RTC.
