5th August, 2019
By Kazeem Ugbodaga
No fewer than 73, 504 people have died in auto crash across Nigeria in the last two years, statistics from the Lagos State Government has revealed.
According to the Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Transportation, Dr Taiwo Salaam, the death were recorded in 3,075 fatal road crashes.
Speaking at a news conference in Ikeja, Lagos to flag off the Bi-annual Road Safety Campaign Week in the state, Salaam said about 34 deaths were recorded annually in 100, 000 population samples, with more number of people with different degrees of injuries.
Salaam said the safety week, organized by the Lagos State Vehicle Inspection Services, (VIS) was designed to educate and enlighten the public on the various activities of the agency.
According to him, the National Bureau of Statistics reported at least 229,524 cases of road crashes between year 2000-2018, about 12,080 annually.
“This situation has major negative impacts on the socio-economic health of the country, hence there is need for a more holistic and strategic plans, especially as it concerns safer vehicles and road users in line with the UN Decade of Action.
“As regards the reduction of road crashes, may I seize this opportunity to urge you to install standardised C-Caution and retro-reflective tapes on your vehicles to aid motorists visibility at night, especially when there is breakdown of vehicles on the road. I would therefore urge Lagosians to be disciplined and patient”, he said.
He said the move was in tandem with the objectives of the present administration led by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to make traffic Management and transportation one of its cardinal focus, saying the the state government had thus decided to employ use of technology in line with world best practices.
“As you are all aware that the first cardinal objective of this present administration is traffic management and transportation, which is in line with the THEMES agenda in order to achieve his goal and objectives, therefore, today marks another streamlined efforts of His Excellency, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to ensure safety of lives and properties of the citizens of the state, which has been the hallmark of his administration since he assumed office,” he said.
Salaam said the theme of this year’s event was “Employing Technology to enhance compliance and Safety on Lagos roads,” adding that this year’s safety campaign week was aimed, among other things, to educate motorists on new mode of enforcement in the state, the importance of pre-registration inspection and establishment of computerised vehicle Inspection service( LACVIS) centres.
The permanent secretary said other aims of the programme included education on the service of Accidents Investigation Unit, AIU, economic, social importance of vehicle maintenance, enlightenment of drivers, owners on how/where to obtain their vehicle particulars and the danger of obtaining forged/fake documents.
Speaking, Director of Vehicle Inspection Service, Engr. Gbolahan Toriola, appealed to members of the public to cooperate and support the agency as they would be visiting corporate organisations, motor parks, schools, union houses, state government ministries, departments, and agencies and other relevant stakeholders in the state during the week to educate and inform them of the technology in place and how they work.