The FCT Administration has said it is working to strengthen measures that will promote safety on the roads around schools in the FCT as well as reduce road casualties to make the city a model for road safety in the country.
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello who made this disclosure in Abuja while receiving the Kwapda’as Road Safety Demand (KRSD) Trust Fund in Abuja, assured that zebra crossings will be strategically placed across schools in the FCT to protect the children from road hazards.
Malam Bello appealed to stakeholders in the FCT, including NGOs, individuals, government officials and institutions to ensure safety on the roads while calling on road users to ensure that road traffic regulations are obeyed.
The Minister directed the FCT Transportation and Education Secretaries to work together with the KRSD to ensure that zebra crossings and other road signs are placed across schools in the FCT to make the roads safer for the children and other road users. He also suggested that road marshals should be drafted to the schools during break, resumption or closing hours to ensure that road signs are obeyed.
Earlier in her remarks, the President, Kwapda’as Road Safety Demand Trust Fund, and a Justice of the Court Appeal, Justice Monica Dongban, said she was motivated to spearhead the advocacy for road safety in the country, when her son lost his life after he was struck by a hit-and-run driver. Knowing the pains of such a loss, she recalled, she would not want other parents and loved ones to go through similarly agony.
The group she disclosed has developed a software that shows clearly how roads around schools in the FCT could be made safer and more protective of the children.
Justice Dongban appealed to the FCTA to assist in the production of more copies of the road safety materials for distribution to schools in the FCT in order to bolster the enlightenment campaign.
The President while lamenting the spate of reckless driving and speeding in built-up areas, however called for the overhaul of archaic road laws to make them more in tune with the current trend and provide for stiffer penalties against road traffic offenders.
