Oyeyemi decries alarming increase in road accidents, fatalities in 2020

Dr Boboye Oyeyemi, the Corps Marshal, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), on Tuesday said that the first quarter of 2020 witnessed alarming increase in road accidents and fatalities.

Oyeyemi made the assertion in an interview with newsmen at the inauguration of the Assistant Corps Commander (ACC) and Deputy Corps Commander (DCC) Promotion Course at the FRSC Academy, Enugu.

The corps marshal said that the period under review recorded a 4.5 per cent increase in vehicle crash and fatalities.

He described the statistics as comparatively alarming and attributed the incidences to excessive speed by road users arising from improvement in road infrastructure across the country.

Oyeyemi said “while the management of the FRSC commends President Muhammadu Buhari for the massive road rehabilitation across the country, we need to put in place counter-measures to check incidences of accidents.

“Over speeding accounts for more than 50 per cent of the causes of road crashes and that is why we have started full enforcement of use of speed limiting device for commercial drivers,”.

The Corps Marshall also commended the Federal Government for supporting the FRSC in building up its logistics but called for more support.

“There has been a continuous buildup of our logistics within the last three years. However, we need more logistics to counter the challenges on our roads,” he said.

According to Oyeyemi, FRSC needs more motorcycles, vehicles and radar guns to counter the problem.

He said that the FRSC was making efforts to establish its presence in all 774 local government areas excluding the riverine areas.

On the 2019 promotion course, Oyeyemi said that no fewer than 362 ACC and DCC were participating in the exercise.

The corps marshal said that the officers must be physically fit to do the job, adding that the FRSC would not compromise health standards.

“The new policy is that if you are not physically fit, the medical team will send you back,” Oyeyemi said.