Boboye Oyeyemi Advises Against Night Travels

<p><em>Boboye Oyeyemi&comma; Corps Marshal&comma; Federal Road Safety Corps&comma;has advised fleet operators&comma; other commercial drivers and patronisers of night trips&comma; including private vehicle owners to desist henceforth from it<&sol;em><br &sol;>&NewLine;<strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reports that arising from the dangers&comma; the risks and the rising cases of fatalities occasioned by road traffic crashes recorded at night&comma; the Corps Marshal&comma; Federal Road Safety Corps&comma; Dr Boboye <strong>Oyeyemi<&sol;strong> has advised fleet operators&comma; other commercial drivers and patronisers of night trips&comma; including private vehicle owners to desist henceforth from it&comma; emphasising that night trip which is often characterised by poor visibility&comma; fatigue&comma; sleeping on wheels&comma; excessive speed among others is not only unsafe&comma; but utterly dangerous&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>According to Bisi Kazeem&comma; the Corps Public Education Officer&comma; Oyeyemi gave the warning while reacting to some reports of fatal crashes recorded at night at the beginning of the year&comma; which led to the death of several road users and left others with different degrees of injuries&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Corps Marshal while speaking extensively on why night trips should be avoided&comma; lamented that on January 5&comma; 2021 alone&comma; an avoidable fatal crash occurred in Kabba&comma; Kogi State where 2 vehicles were caught up in a head-on collision as a result of a combination of some factors revealed to be fatigue and sleeping on the steering&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The crash involved the driver of a white Toyota Hiace bus &lpar; MSA 942 XA&rpar; that contravened COVID-19 protocols on physical distancing by overloading the bus with 18 passengers instead of the prescribed 8 passengers and a green Iveco trailer &lpar; AKA 788 XC&rpar; carrying 07 passengers&period; Out of the 25 passengers on board the two vehicles&comma; 08 were killed while 17 sustained various injuries&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Similarly&comma; while maintaining that crashes that occur at night are more fatal than the ones that happen in the day time&comma; Oyeyemi also lamented that just on January 9&comma; 2021 2 vehicles&semi; a white Sienna &lpar;KUG 538 BJ&rpar; and a Sharon bus without a number plate were involved in a fatal crash on Akwanga-Keffi road leaving the entire 17 passengers on board burnt beyond recognition&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Speaking further&comma; the Corps Marshal disclosed that intelligence report reveals that most fleet operators and other vehicle owners&comma; including private vehicle owners who are addicted to night journeys&comma; do so for selfish economic gains&comma; unnecessary overloading of vehicles with both passengers and goods and to avoid arrest and enforcement on physical distancing by FRSC patrol teams&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He warned that in as much as the Corps does not have the statutory powers to ban night trips&comma; it has become very critical and a matter of urgency for patronisers of night trips to retrace their steps and plan their journeys in the day time because often times&comma; when crash occurs away from FRSC rescue points&comma; its difficult to access help from motorists at night&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In the same vein&comma; while listing out the dangers associated with <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">night travels<&sol;a>&comma; like poor visibility&comma; fatigue&comma; sleeping on wheels&comma; dangerous driving&comma; overloading&comma; speeding among others&comma; Oyeyemi also warned passengers whose journeys could wait for the next day to resist any temptation that could lead them into patronising fleet operators at night&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Corps Marshal warned that these deaths are not only avoidable and preventable but totally unacceptable hence the need for all to take caution&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8221&semi; On our part&comma; the Corps will continue double its efforts by constantly engaging the motoring public nationwide&comma; through aggressive awareness and sensitisation campaign&comma; until the desired result is achieved&&num;8221&semi; he added&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;