By Abdallah el-Kurebe, Editor
The Zonal Commanding Officer of the Federal Road Safety Corps for Zone RS10, comprising Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara States, Assistant Corps Marshal (ACM) Kayode Olagunju has said that reliable data collection and analysis was important in traffic management.
According to a statement issued by the Public Education Officer, Assistant Corps Commander, Aliyu Ma’aji and made available to Newsdiaryonline Thursday, the Commanding officer said this while addressing key stakeholders that form the multiple data sources on Road Traffic Crashes (RTC) in the Zone.
Olagunju called on all agencies involved in RTC management, comprised of the FRSC, Police, Hospital management, Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIO), State Agencies on Traffic and the National Bureau of Statistics to ensure proper documentation of every road crash detailing vehicles and persons involved as well as casualty statuses.
Olagunju also enjoined all the participants at the Technical Workshop for the Planning Research and Statistics Officers of the key agencies involved in data collection in the Zone, to effectively collaborate in creating credible RTC database in the zone.
He drew the attention of the participants to the National Road Traffic Crash Management System (NRTCMS) aimed at harmonizing data from different sources for the country to have single credible RTC data.
Emphasizing hospital follow-up to have update on Road Traffic Crash Victims that are brought to the hospitals to confirm injured victims or dead, the Zonal Commander reminded that in line with the global best practices, the country operates a 30-day rule.
This, according to him, “means a Road Traffic Crash victim should be monitored for at least 30 days and whoever dies within 30 days after the crash, is recorded to have died through RTC involved in.
The Assistant Corps Marshal also advised hospitals against rejection of victims of accidents, while informing that it was illegal for any hospital to reject accident victims and that the fines for this was N50,000 or six months imprisonment.
He reiterated the importance of the RTC victims getting prompt rescue and care as the bulk of the victims of Road Traffic Crashes die within one hour of the crashes, known as the Golden Hour.
“All hands must be on deck to ensure that the victims are well managed within the golden hour,” he said.
While calling for continues collaboration of all agencies in Traffic Management, the Zonal commander added that he believed that the umbrella body on RTC Data Management, the National Crash Report Information system (NCRIS) that is comprised of all the key stakeholders on RTC data, would enhance the credibility of RTC data in Nigeria as well as better traffic management and planning.
