The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) is set to conduct eye test on road users to make the ember months free of accidents.
The Corps said the step became imperative owing to 1,602 deaths
recorded on highways from 2,805 accidents between September and December
2017 across the country, describing the scenario as too devastating to
be overlooked.
Speaking in Ado Ekiti on Friday during the 2018 ember months campaign
tagged: ‘Safe Driving, Saves Lives’, the Corps Marshall, Boboye
Oyeyemi, said the FRSC would no longer tolerate unwarranted killings of
innocent Nigerians owing to recklessness on the part of some road users.
He said the Corps was going to be strict on its conduct of vision
acuity tests to make sure all drivers on roads don’t have defective
eyesight, calling on other traffic agencies to collaborate with FRSC to
achieve the task.
“The ember months is a period of festivity many people erroneously
believe that evil forces on the roads are responsible for road crashes
and fatalities.
“Whereas, it is the struggle on the part of most people to travel to
meet their loved ones, more trips on the part of commercial drivers to
make more money in preparation for the yuletide without adequate
rest that are responsible for the road mishap
“The Corps is going to be strict on its conduct of vision acuity
tests to make sure all drivers on the roads do not have defective
eyesight, and responsibility equally falls on the other traffic agencies
to
collaborative with FRSC to achieve this task.
“In the months September to December in 2017, the total number of
crashes recorded were 2,805, number of deaths was 1,602, people involved
were 20, 196 and vehicles involved were 4, 503.
“The corps has resolved to trend down the figures listed by a huge
margin, and this can only be achieved with the cooperation of all road
safety stakeholders”, the FRSC boss stated.
Oyeyemi said his men would step up the FRSC’s ‘Operation Cobra’ to
stop the menace of light violation, drunk driving, dangerous driving,
use of phone while driving and other routine violation common to
motorists.
The FRSC boss advised that road users should drive cautiously when
the weather condition is not favourable or stop and wait until the
situation normalizes.