The Corps Marshal, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) Malam Shehu Mohammed, says it recorded low Road Traffic Crashes (RTCs) despite high traffic volume at some critical corridors across the country.
Mohammed disclosed this to newsmen while controlling traffic at the Asaba-Onitsha Niger Bridge corridor, alongside other senior officers on Tuesday in Delta.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the monitoring is in line with the FRSC general agenda of the 2024 Operation Zero Tolerance Special Patrol Target, at ensuring free flow of traffic on all corridors as well as achieving a season without road traffic deaths or injuries.
The corps marshal attributed the nationwide low traffic crashes rate to its proactive measures, including increased patrols, traffic control, and public enlightenment campaigns.
He, however, reported a fatal accident on the Akure-Ibadan highway that claimed three lives, emphasising the need for motorists to exercise caution and avoid night journeys.
He maintained that visibility at night was bad and it was always difficult to render rescue operations, adding that night travels were dangerous and road crashes occured more at night due to low visibility.
According to Mohammed, although there is high volume of traffic at some critical corridors and also some isolated cases of road accidents recorded but so far so good, we recorded low traffic crashes.
“Right now, we are on the Niger bridge and the traffic is moving smoothly and that’s the essence of increased visibility on the road this time around.
“The calls we are getting all over the federation is that our men are all over and they are getting it right because the traffic is moving, though some are going slowly.
“The activities are going smoothly on the road nationwide and we are happy that it is free and the traffic is moving smoothly,”he said.
Mohammed commended the FRSC personnel who were on late patrol at the corridor, assuring them that the management would continue to place high priority on their welfare.
“So far, from the place we left, we saw traffic on Monday in Akure but they were moving smoothly and that means that the strategy we took to increase our men, patrol is yielding positively.
“Honestly, I am impressed with our men, some of them are even on the road at night trying to see that there is a free flow of traffic and I want to commend you all, ” he said.
The FRSC corps marshal, however, urged motorists to give maximum cooperation to the officers and men deployed for traffic control at all the corridors nationwide.
The FRSC boss reassured motorists of the FRSC’s commitment to ensuring their safety on the roads, urging them to also cooperate with the law enforcement officers deployed to the highways.
“We assure the motoring public that we are committed to this and we will continue to be here until Jan. 15, 2025.
“This is to make sure that every motorist or vehicles moving either from the North to the South or the South to the East, will be able to get to their destination when they want to get there without any hitch,”he said.
NAN reports that to ensure smooth vehicular movement at the Asaba inter change, the FRSC corps marshal, the Anambra State Sector Commander, Joyce Alexander and Delta State Sector Commander, Fredrick Ogidan controlled traffic for over three hours.
This is to enable travellers reach their destination safely and on time.
