The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) on Monday said it remained committed to reducing road crashes, 30 years after it was established.
Mr John Meheux, the new Zonal Commanding Officer, in charge of Ogun and Lagos States, restated this at a news conference in Lagos to mark the 30th anniversary of the Corps.
Meheux said the FRSC had prevented on the highways and saved many lives as result of public education embarked upon by the Corps.
“This is three decades of road safety administration in Nigeria when the Military President then, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, established the FRSC on Feb. 18, 1988.
“Today, three decades after, I can boldly tell you that the story of crashes have reduced drastically.
“That is why we can beat our chest and say we have done well while we are celebrating 30 years.
“And we are still committed to our primary duty by reducing crashes on the roads to the barest minimum,’’ he said.
Meheux said that the major challenge the corps discovered over the years was lack of education by the motorists on the road safety.
“People can afford to buy cars but refused to have drivers licence.
“They never knew what it takes to drive, nobody teaches them to drive, that is why we have numbers of crashes in some years back,’’ he noted.
The FRSC boss also said that the corps was not satisfied with the number of deaths recorded annually as a result of crashes.
He added that FRSC was working towards adopting the best practices in the world where crashes occur but no live is lost.
Meheux appealed to motorists to obey the traffic rules, observe the road signs and shun driving under the influence of alcohol and dangerous substances.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the FRSC, which was established in 1988, is the lead agency in Nigeria on road safety administration and management.
Its statutory functions include: making the highways safe for motorists and other road users, as well as checking road worthiness of vehicles.
Others include recommending works and infrastructures to eliminate or minimize accidents on the highways and educating motorists and members of the public on the importance of road discipline. (NAN)
