Road accident fatalities decline by 19.5% in 2 years, says FRSC

The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has said fatalities reduced by 19.5 per cent within the FCT and Niger sector commands between 2019 and 2021.

The Zonal Commanding officer, Zone RS7 command, Assistant Corps Marshal (ACM) Shehu Mohammed, said this while presenting last year’s report at a press briefing on Friday in Abuja.

He said 503 persons were killed in road crashes between January and December 2019 while 405 deaths were recorded in the same period in 2021 translating to a 19.5 per cent reduction.

According to him, the figure is an indication that the corps was on course towards meeting its set target of reducing crash related fatalities by 20 per cent.

“This is in line with the FRSC strategic goals on road crash reduction and the united Decade of Action on road safety,” he said.

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In the same vein, Mohammed said the Zonal command also recorded a 16.3 per cent reduction in road traffic crashes in 2021 when compared to the statistics for 2019.

He said 1,263 road traffic crashes were recorded between weeks 1-48 of 2021 as against 1,509 crashes in 2019.

Mohammed said it was expedient to compare 2021 with 2019 in view of the global challenges posed by COVID-19 pandemic, which had an overwhelming impact on global activities in 2020.

He added that there was a 9.8 per cent reduction in injured persons between 2021 and 2019 with 3,363 and 3,032 injured persons respectively.

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He said the command posted a sustained increase in bookings for speed limit device infractions in 2019 with 4,769 traffic offenders in 2019 and 5,006 offenders in 2021, representing 5.0 per cent increase.

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He noted that as a result of improved enforcement, the Zonal command’s performance for 2021 rose to 55,950 bookings translating to 41.6 per cent.

He added that 28,709 offenses were recorded in 2021 translating to 53.4 per cent improved performance for the year under review.

“On critical offences, we recorded a 22.6 per cent increase on traffic offenders booked for critical offences which includes phone use while driving, non-use of seat-belts, overloading and other critical offences.

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“It was a worrisome trend that despite numerous strategies initiated by the Corps to reduce the number of traffic-related offences on overloading, 4,799 traffic offenders were prosecuted in 2021,” he said.

Mohammed identified some crash-prone areas where there would be improved patrols, rescue and public enlightenment activities such as Mokwa, which posted 19.3 per cent of road crashes in 2021.

He added that Suleja-Lambata had 17.6 per cent and Tafa-Jere corridor under Sabon Wuse, 13.4 per cent of road crashes recorded under the zone in 2021.

The FRSC boss said more efforts would be put in place to ensure improved performance by the operatives of the Corps in the FCT and the Niger State sector commands.