In two weeks, between December 19, 2012 and January 3, 280 persons died as a result of road crashes.
The Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC, recorded 280 deaths from 480 road accidents between December 19, 2012 and January 3, the Corps Marshal, Osita Chidoka, said.
Mr. Chidoka told newsmen at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja on Friday, shortly after an aerial patrol of road traffic that 1,600 people sustained various degrees of injuries from the accidents that occurred across Nigeria.
“Compared to last year, there is slight improvement and we hope this improving trend will continue because in the past 10 years, FRSC has successfully brought down crashes within December period year on year.
“Traffic is moving clearly and our efforts in managing the traffic has been very successful in this year `Operation Zero’ coupled with the fact that the roads have vastly improved,” he said.
Mr. Chidoka said that during the period, 13,000 vehicles were booked for various traffic offences out of 36,000 stopped by operatives of the FRSC, while the rest were cautioned and discharged.
He said out of the 399 traffic offenders charged to mobile courts, one was sentenced to jail, 370 fined and the rest discharged and acquitted.
Mr. Chidoka attributed the success of the commission in managing road traffic during the period to past experiences, increase in personnel and improved technology.
“The learning of the past, we have been learning from our experiences and also we have improved data collection and analysis.
“Second was the increase in our staff strength which happened in the last one year and a half.
“We have more people to deploy on the roads and thirdly is our improved monitoring mechanism – our effort to improve oversight of people who were given work and making sure that it is done,” he said.
Mr. Chidoka said that through the use of technology, the commission’s operatives are monitored to ensure compliance with assignments given to officers in terms of traffic control and rescue operations.
Source: NAN
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