171 Children Died in Auto Crash During 2013 Ember Months, as stated by FRSC

Corps Marshal and Chief Executive, FRSC, Boboye Oyeyemi

The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has disclosed that 171 children died as a result of road crashes during last year ‘ember’ months (from September to December.)

Also, 760 children were injured, with 1,569 people involved in traffic road crashes in the same ember months.

In order to avoid such numbers of children lost in the road traffic crashes, a joint committee of the FRSC and the Nigerian Society of Engineers has been constituted for the purpose of enlightening the general public as well as enforcement of the use of appropriate car restraints for children.

Child safety, according to FRSC, is in tandem with the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995), the National Child Right Act (2003), the MDGs targets on Goal IV (Reduc Child Mortality), and the United Nations Decade of Action on Road Safety (2011-2020).

Speaking on Wednesday during the commencement of a campaign on child safety with a theme; “Ensuring Child Safety in Vehicles,” in Abuja, the Corps Marshal and Chief Executive, FRSC, Boboye Oyeyemi, said studies had shown that death arising from inadequate child restraint in vehicles was on the rise and had become a source of concern to the corps.

Boboye noted that stakeholders must rise up to the occasion to reverse the trend, as the Nigerian Society of Engineers have committed to doing through the campaign.
“The campaign is most apt at this period of the year when parents would be traveling home with children during the yuletide. Consequently, it is my expectation that parents would make the best use of the opportunity provided by this campaign to observe the necessary measures for safety of the children.”

The Corp Marshall, who was represented by the Deputy Corps Marshal, DCM, in charge of Motor Vehicles Administration, Charles Theophilus, raised the alarm that speed limit violation has become another prevalent cause of road traffic crashes and that this accounts for 39 per cent of road crashes recorded nationwide between January 2014 and August 2014.

This development, he stated, informed the decision of the stakeholders’ forum, which after exhaustive consultation, resolved to embark on aggressive public enlightenment campaign and for FRSC to commence enforcement of law on compulsory use of speed limiters by commercial vehicles effective from June 1st, 2015.

Oyeyemi said to this end, various forms of advocacy programmes have been lined up by the Corps, and the campain would be formally flagged off at Abuja on November 18, 2014.

He stated further: “It should be pointed out that speed limiter controls the maximum speed of equipped vehicles are efficient and powerful tools for speed management.
“Active limiters directly controls speed by applying counter force on the accelerator or through the engine fuel injection system.”

The Director, Road Traffic Services, Danjuma Garba, who represented the Minister, Federal Capital Territory, Balla Mohammed, called on all Nigerians to join hands together to ensure safety on the roads.

Garba insisted that joint efforts of the masses and collaboration of stakeholders would reduce drastically the rate of road traffic crashes.

He therefore enjoined the masses to imbibe the culture of ‘every parent is a parent of all children’.

The President, Nigerian Society of Engineer, Ademola Olorunfemi said out of the three factors involved in road accident, which are the driver, the vehicle and the road, two of which is road and vehicle are products of engineering.

Olorunfemi called for collective responsibility, most especially in the case of children who he said are more vulnerable because of their tenderness and fragility, to ensure road crashes which could lead to death.