The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) on Friday confirmed that 280 Nigerians died in 480 road accidents in the last two weeks of 2012.
Making the disclosure, FRSC Corps Marshal, Osita Chidoka said the figure represents record of accidents across the country taken between 19th December 2012 and 3rd January 2013 by the road safety organisation.
Chidoka, who spoke at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, after an aerial patrol of road traffic, lamented that most of the accidents are caused by the carelessness of drivers.
He explained that apart from the recorded number of deaths, 1600 victims of accidents also sustained various degrees of injuries within the same period.
He stated that despite the alarming figure, the record is still a slight improvement in recorded accidents compared to previous years, because FRSC had made enormous progress on its sensitisation activities. This improvement, he went on, was made possible by better experiences, more personnel and more equipment to combat traffic challenges.
“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,” he said, adding that the agency successfully managed the traffic situation during the period in which 13,000 vehicles were booked for different offences out of the 36,000 vehicles inspected.
He further disclosed that within the same period, 399 traffic offenders were charged to mobile courts in different parts of the country. One offender was sentenced to jail, 370 others were fined while some were discharged and acquitted.
“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.”
