IN its bid to reduce the risk of road accident as festive period approaches, the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) last week launched nationwide ember months road safety enlightenment campaign with the theme: Operation Zero Tolerance: Actualising UN Decade of Action 2011-2020.Working to sustain the United Nations goal on reducing road crashes, the FRSC, RS 11.34 Mokola Unit, Ibadan, last Wednesday gathered road users and stakeholders at the Mokola Roundabout junction, Ibadan to intimate them with the need to exercise more patience on the road.Led by the unit commander, Medinat Titilayo Ishola, representatives of the police, special marshals, immigration officers, drivers, Okada riders, National Youth Service Corps members, other FRSC unit representatives, the representatives of the Nigerian Railway Corporation and the National Orientation Agency (NOA) were also present.The essence of inviting various stakeholders, according to FRSC, was to ensure that all road users and stakeholders were involved. In her speech, the unit commander, Medinat Ishola said 'Ember months unfortunately have become a period associated with the highest incidents of Road Traffic Crashes(RTC) in any given year. Instead of counting their blessings, majority of families now count their losses during this period. We have been made to believe wrongly that there must be an increase in the rate of RTC and that there is nothing we can do.'She added that 'the months are neither jinxed nor bedeviled in anyway. The false and negative pictures of the ember months have been created through the negative and very bad driving habit coupled with level of road traffic indiscipline usually exhibited by the motoring public during this period.'This command and indeed the FRSC in general is very much aware of this trend and is tirelessly committed and adequately prepared to effectively reduce carnage on our roads to the barest minimum,' she noted.Although emphasis was placed on the overzealousness of commercial drivers who in their bid to make more money during the period either were tempted to drive carelessly, the command advised that it was the duty of every road user to ensure safety on Nigerian roads.In her address, the representative of the NOA, Mrs Kehinde Oladipupo urged the driving public to jettison the culture of making or receiving telephone calls while driving. I want to implore all road users to stop making or receiving phone calls while driving. The bad idea increases the risk of road accidents.'Another feature which the speakers noted contributed to the high rate of road accident was the tendency of road users to either beat road signs or beat rail line queues. And there was no better person to speak on such than the District Manager of the Nigerian Railway Corporation(NRC), Engineer Gbadamosi Rasheed. In his address, he appealed to road users not to play smart while crossing the rail lines, especially when trains were about to pass. According to him, the country continued to record high casualty in this area.'I want to implore all road users not to play smart whenever a train is about to pass. There are always an officer by the roadside to give signs when we are to stop when a train is coming. Nobody should be in a hurry to this extent, the result might be dangerous,' he warned.The beauty of the programme was the fact that most representatives were given time to express their mind apart from the officers. When it was the turn of the drivers to speak, Alhaji Ahmed Akinsola did not mince words as he appealed to the FRSC to always remove on time, vehicles involved in accidents on the roads. According to him, 'In some cases, abandoned accidental cars had been a source of another accident because these vehicles stayed longer than necessary on the roads. However, I want to thank the FRSC for organising this programme and I believe that it will yield results.
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