Following the just concluded 2018 Eid-El-Fitri Sallah Special Patrol which lasted from Wednesday 13 June 2018 to Monday 18 June 2018, the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) recorded 51 deaths (11% decrease in the number of people killed) in road traffic crashes nationwide compared to 57 deaths during the same period, in 2017.
The Corps Public Education Officer, Bisi Kazeem, revealed in a press release that there was a significant increase in the number of people rescued without injury during the 2018 Sallah special patrol exercise which was given a wider coverage than previous years, when compared to the same period of Easter celebration in 2017.
According to him, 406 road traffic crash victims were rescued without injuries in 2018 Sallah special patrol compared to 293 that were rescued in 2017 Sallah special patrol of same period which marks 39% increase.
However, Kazeem noted that the total number of crashes in 2018 were 126 compared to 102 in 2017 during same period and this is represented by 24% increase; number of person involved in road traffic crashes during the 2018 Sallah celebration period were 839 compared to 662 in 2017, and this marks an increase by 27%.
He added that the Corps recorded 7,667 offences during the Sallah Celebration compared to 7533 in 2017; and 6728 offenders apprehended in 2018 compared to 6,562 in 2017. The most prevalent offences during the 2018 Patrol were Seatbelt Use Violation (SUV) 1615, compared to 1462 in 2017, and Speed Limit Device Violation (SLD) 785 compared to 943 in 2017, and Riding a Motorcycle without crash Helmet (RMH) 857.
Quoting the Corps Marshal, Dr. Boboye Oyeyemi, Kazeem stated that the Corps now has a wider coverage due to the establishment of more FRSC Commands, Outposts, road side clinics and Zebra points who now feed in reports from different routes that were hitherto not thoroughly covered. He stressed that the increase in number of road crashes, increase in the number of persons involved, and increase in the number of persons killed is due to the reports that emanated from the new FRSC formations.
