Federal Road Safety Records 1.75% Decrease In 2020 Road Deaths

<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Federal Road Safety recorded decrease in road crashes in 2020<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reports that there is a decrease in the percentage of road mishaps in 2020&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;According to statistics made available to this online medium&comma; Federal Road Safety Corps &lpar;FRSC&rpar;&comma; says no fewer than 10&comma; 522 Road Traffic Crashes &lpar;RTCs&rpar; were recorded nationwide in 2020 involving 17&comma;614 vehicles&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Corps Public Education Officer &lpar;CPEO&rpar; Assistant Corps Marshal &lpar;ACM&rpar; Bisi Kazeem&comma; disclosed this in an interview with the Newsmen on Thursday in Abuja&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Kazeem said 4&comma; 794 persons were recorded dead and 28&comma;449 persons got various degrees of injury within the period under review&comma; while 29&comma;808 had minor injuries and survived&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He said there was a decrease in the total number of people killed by road traffic crashes in 2020 when compared to 2019&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He added that in 2019&comma; the Corps recorded 4&comma; 878 deaths as against 4&comma; 794 deaths in 2020 representing a decrease of 84 which was 1&period;75 per cent decrease&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>According to him&comma; the Corps recorded a total of 10&comma;522 road traffic crashes involving 17&comma;614 vehicles in the year 2020&comma; as against 9&comma; 957 involving 16&comma;806 vehicles recorded in the previous year 2019&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The total number of crashes increased in the year 2020 with a total of 565 crashes&comma; representing 5&period;37 per cent increase&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;In 2020 alone&comma; out of 63&comma;581 people involved in RTC&comma; a total of 4&comma; 794 were killed&comma; as against 4&comma; 878 in 2019 representing 1&period;75 per cent decrease&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;28&comma;449 got injured in 2020 against 32&comma;344 in 2019 representing a decrease of 3&comma; 895 or 13&period;69 per cent&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;While a total of 29&comma;808 survived the crashes with injuries in 2020 against 32&comma;499 in 2019 representing 6745 or 10&period;67 per cent decrease&comma;” he said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Kazeem said the major causes of these crashes as observed by the <strong>Corps<&sol;strong> was Speed-related Violations &lpar;SPV&rpar;&comma; which contributed above 62 per cent of the total crashes&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He added that dangerous driving&comma; driving under the influence of alcohol&comma; overloading&comma; break failure&comma; tyre burst&comma; wrongful overtaking and route violation were also probable major causes of crashes&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Bad road&comma; road construction violation&comma; dangerous overtaking&comma; sleeping on steering&comma; poor weather&comma; use of <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">phone<&sol;a> while driving&comma; sign light violation&comma; fatigue among others caused the crashes&comma; ” he added&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Kazeem said the Corps believed that a crash-free society was still possible only if all road users&comma; including pedestrians ensured that all road traffic regulations were complied with accordingly&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He&comma; however&comma; warned that those who violated road traffic laws indiscriminately would definitely be penalised as the operatives were more than ever prepared and deployed to enforce compliance&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;