By Jennifer Y Omiloli
The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in Ekiti State, would soon begin to conduct eye test on
road users, especially motorists, to make the ember months free of accidents. This is to prevent recurrent accidents involving road users.
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 .
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 killings of innocent Nigerians owing to recklessness on the part of some road users.
He said the Corps is 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.
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 .
“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 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 were 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 said.
