As the year winds down, the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has called for caution as members of the public maneuver the first six designated corridors which usually experience heavy traffic flow during the festive season.
In a message signed by the Assistant Corps Marshal, Public Education Officer, Federal Road Safety Corps, Mr Olusegun Ogungbemide, the awareness drive, covered the Lagos–Ibadan–Egbeda, Abuja City Gate–Airport Road–Giri–Kubwa–Aya (FCT Metropolis); Abuja–Kaduna–Zaria; Abuja–Lokoja–Zariagi; Benin–Asaba–Awka; and Shagamu–Ijebu Ode–Ore–Benin corridors.
He explained that, the routes, including 50 other corridors serve as critical national arteries and record heightened vehicular movement as citizens travel to reunite with families and loved ones.”
The sensitisation campaign is aimed at addressing the major human and environmental factors responsible for crashes along these corridors, including excessive speeding, reckless overtaking, driver fatigue, distraction from mobile phone use, overloading, and poor vehicle maintenance”.
Noting that “unsafe driving behaviours, when combined with adverse weather conditions, construction activities and disregard for traffic signs, often turn busy highways into scenes of avoidable tragedy”.
The FRSC boss again warned that violation of traffic regulations along those corridors posed grave dangers, as speeding, wrongful overtaking, lane indiscipline, drunk driving and disregard for traffic control devices significantly reduce reaction time and increase the severity of crashes.
“Such violations often result in loss of vehicle control, dangerous head on collisions, pedestrian knockdowns and multi vehicle pile ups that overwhelm emergency response efforts and leave families permanently devastated”, he stated.
He stressed that traffic regulations are not punitive obstacles but life saving methods designed to protect all road users, noting that every act of non compliance heightens the risk of fatal outcomes and turns highways meant for mobility into corridors of grief.
According to him, road traffic crashes are not accidents but predictable outcomes of unsafe choices made behind the wheel.
He therefore urged motorists to adopt a culture of patience and alertness, plan journeys ahead of time, comply with speed limits, avoid night travel where possible, and ensure that vehicles are in good roadworthy condition before embarking on any trip.
“Arriving safely at one’s destination remains the ultimate goal of every journey”, said the FRSC boss.
To mitigate crashes and vad driving behaviours, the Corps Marshal also directed Corridor Commanders to ensure adequate deployment of personnel while making enforcement top most priority during the exercise.
He called on all motorists to see safety as a shared responsibility, reminding them that “No journey is too urgent to be completed safely and no destination is worth a life lost”.