The Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, has revealed that 20 people were killed on Boxing Day in road crashes recorded in Oyo and Niger States.
The Acting Corps Marshal of the Corps, Dauda Ali Biu, revealed this after a preliminary investigation conducted into fatal crashes at Ibadan, Oyo State, Mokwa in Niger State, and Otukpo in Benue State, on Tuesday.
The agency attributed the deaths to overspeeding, reckless driving and dangerous behaviours exhibited by drivers.
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The FRSC boss decried incessant violation of speed limits and noticeable traces of dangerous driving behaviours exhibited by drivers during the Christmas celebrations and warned perpetrators of such bad road use culture to desist henceforth as the Corps will not spare them when apprehended.
He also pointed to the hazards of night journeys as two of the three crashes occurred during the early hours of the day.
The FRSC report said on Tuesday, there were crashes along the Ibadan-Lagos route, “a few minutes drive before Gurumaraji area, Oyo State at 6:30 am while the Mokwa fatal crash occurred at 3:30 am and the Otukpo lone crash took place at exactly 11:35am.”
It added, “the Ibadan avoidable menace is a lone crash that involved a Toyota Bus bearing the following registration details TRK135ZY.
“The Mokwa crash involved a trailer transiting from Lagos which had a head-on collision with a Bus and the Otukpo lone crash involving a bus registered as NAK77XA which occurred as a result of a fallen tree that blocked the highway,” according to a statement issued by Bisi Kazeem, Corps Public Education Officer, who communicated the delivery of the report by Biu.
The statement noted that “18 people ( all Male Adults) were involved in the Ibadan crash, out of which 10 were killed, 6 injured and the rest rescued without any injuries.
“In the same vein, as at the time of filing this report, 10 victims were killed in the Mokwa crash, 9 of which were confirmed dead on the spot and the remaining 1 victim died in the hospital.”l
”While zero fatality was recorded in the Otukpo lone crash, the injured victims have been taken to St. Daniels Hospital Otukpo for urgent treatment,” the report said.
The statement further said the 6 victims who were rescued with different degrees of injuries in the Ibadan crash were given adequate first aid by the Corps’ medical rescue team before moving them to the Ibadan Central Hospital for proper medical attention.
The remains of those killed were deposited in Adeoyo General Hospital Morgue in Ibadan, Oyo State.
The Acting Corps Marshal who frowned at the incident assured the motoring public, particularly law-abiding ones, that the Corps has enhanced its visibility and intensified patrol operations that will engender sanity on the highways.
He directed the immediate deployment of a special squad to the affected part of the Otukpo-Makurdi highway to ensure the speedy removal of the fallen tree as well as a traffic control team to ensure free flow of traffic.
He admonished the public to always patronize the FRSC toll-free line 122 and the National Traffic Radio 107.1 FM which are always available for all road users to report emergencies at any given time.