NIGER CRASH: FRSC WARNS AGAINST NIGHT TRIPS, UNSAFE TRANSPORTATION MEANS 10-09-24
By Sadiq Aminu The Corps Marshal, Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC Mallam Shehu Mohammed has called on stakeholders, and motoring public to join FRSC in cautioning their subjects to avoid night trips and discontinued over reliance on unsafe means of transportation.
Mallam Mohammed who made the call in Abuja while reacting to the
unfortunate fatal road traffic crash that occurred at KM 02 Koriagi village Agaei, Lapai-Bida route, Niger state said the crash was as a result of speed violation.
He said that the crash which eventually led to loss of control and ended up in an inferno happened at exactly 04:40am on Sunday Sept. 8.
The Corps Marshal had ordered immediate clampdown on transportation of inflammable substances like petroleum products across the country on Aug. 30.
The directives included massive deployment of patrol operatives on the nation’s highways to conduct search and identify vehicles carrying these products.
The FRSC boss, however, said that the Corps had rose to the challenge of confronting the bad road use behaviour on all fronts since he assumed office in May.
According to him, this gesture led to a high level of partnership between the FRSC, leadership of the various transport unions, security agencies, as well as state traffic management agencies.
“Irrespective of these efforts, most of these commuters still disregard the sensitisation campaigns and travel to their destinations using the wrong means of conveyance.
“More worrisome is the fact that a whole lot of these trailer drivers travel at night when the operational arm of the Corps and the task force are not available.
“It is on the strength of the foregoing that we make these clarion calls to members of the Public to compliment FRSC’s efforts towards bringing these deadly road traffic violations to a halt,”
The unfortunate incident involved a total of 55 male adults. From the number, 18 passengers were rescued with various degrees of injuries while 37 were killed.
Reports says that the crash involved four vehicles which are a DAF tanker, two DAF trucks and a toyota car.
The report stresses that the tanker loaded with fuel from Lagos to Kano was driving against the legal speed limit on that route when the driver lost control of the wheels and fell on the highway.
The impact resulted in an inferno that burnt down the vehicle. Unfortunately, while the trailer was in flames, another DAF truck conveying cows and humans whose driver was also obviously engaged in speed violation also crashed onto the burning tanker.
The other two vehicles, the Toyota and the remaining DAF Truck that were not observing driving distance also crashed onto the same inferno. All the affected vehicles got burnt down completely.