Ember Months: FRSC warns motorists against disobedience To Traffic Rules.

The Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, has warned that disobedience to traffic rules would not be condoned especially during this festivities.

The Lagos State Sector Commander, FRSC, Corps Commander Babatunde Farinloye gave the warning during the Command’s 2023 Ember Months campaign with the theme “Speed Thrills But Kills; Drive Responsibly And Avoid Overloading”, held at the Oshodi Bus Terminal in Lagos.

The Sector Commander said it remaines part of the Corps strategic intervention towards elevating the consciousness of Nigerians to the realities of road traffic crashes and its implications on the individual and society at large.

He noted that from January to September 2023, the Command recorded a total of 353 road traffic crashes which claimed the lives of 79 people while 603 others sustained various degrees of injuries, with some permanent disabilities.

Corps Commander Babatunde Farinloye, this is the essence of continuous campaign that road traffic crashes are mostly caused by road users and that anyone caught disobeying traffic rules would be arrested and prosecuted.

“Do what is right, avoid infractions that are life threatening. During this period, anyone caught in the web of this kind of life threatening violations would be arrested and prosecuted.” He said.

Corps Commander Farinloye, added that besides speeding and overloading, statistics indicate that disregard for vehicle maintenance, drug and alcohol use and fatigue during driving are potentials for road crashes especially during festivities.

In a remark, the FRSC Zonal Commanding Officer in charge of Lagos and Ogun State Commands, Assistant Corps Marshal Gilbert Igbokwe, said, to eradicate road traffic crashes is a task that must be undertaken by all stakeholders.

Assistant Corps Marshal Igbokwe, said motorists must ensure and comply with rules governing road traffic such as overspeeding and overloading.

“Speed increases severity of road traffic crashes and overloading increases the number of casualties, so we must all agree to stamp out excess speed and comply with regulated speed limits.”

The Lagos State Special Marshal Coordinator, SM Olusegun Akintan, noted that during this Ember Months period, people are eager to travel and with too many road users, human factor is the cause of most road crashes.

According to him, “people are eager to travel home and with tendencies to make more money at this period, but we should do that by obeying all the traffic laws and traffic officers on the road as 70/80 percent of this cause are human factors, and human factors comes from the person behind the wheels.”

The Ember Months campaign with representatives from the Police, Military, Drug Law agency and Fire Service featured free health check, road show and distribution of road safety tips fliers to the motoring public.