21st January, 2015
No fewer than 234 people lost their lives in 298 road accidents in Ogun from January, 2014 to December, 2014, the Federal Road Safety Corps said on Wednesday.
The state Sector Commander of the FRSC, Mr Adegoke Adetunji, told NAN in Abeokuta that 984 people were injured from various accidents during the period.
He said that non-compliance of motorists with traffic rules were largely responsible for the accidents.
Adetunji said that speeding, dangerous driving and poor condition of roads were the major causes.
The commander, however, said that there was 47.7 per cent reduction in road accidents recorded during the period compared to those of 2013. “In 2013, 307 deaths were recorded and 2,011 people injured in 570 accidents,” he told NAN.
Adetunji also gave the quarterly breakdown of the deaths and the injured recorded in the year.
He said that the command recorded a total of 94 road accidents from January to April, 2014 with 79 deaths and 348 people injured.
The commander also said that from May to August, the command recorded 81 road crashes leading to the death of 81 people and injuries on 263 people.
“From September to December, we recorded 123 crashes, where 74 persons lost their lives and 373 injured,” he told NAN.
Adetunji said that road crashes reduced in 2014 due to the commission’s aggressive enlightenment programmes on road safety. “Our focus in 2014 was to change the attitude of the drivers and ensure that they obeyed traffic rules; we went to garages and checked the blood pressures of drivers.
“When we discovered that drivers were not in good state of health, we referred them to qualified medical personnel.
“We also organised training for drivers once in a month; we worked on their psychology and let them know why they should drive safely,” he said.
He urged road users to adhere to traffic rules and regulations at all times to ensure safety on the raods.