The Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) on Wednesday said that 4,737 persons died in 9,698 road crashes that occurred so far in 2019.
The Corps Marshal, Boboye Oyeyemi, gave the grim statistics during a press conference for the end of the year special patrol operations at the FRSC Headquarters in Abuja.
He disclosed that 68,193 people were involved in the road crashes and 63,456 of the victims were rescued while 30,744 others sustained various degrees of injuries.
According to him, most worrisome crashes were the ones that involved tankers and trailers, adding that a total of 604 trailers and 296 tankers were involved in major road crashes within the time under review.
Boboye however assured: “The Corps will be resolute in its commitment to changes that could stem the tides of crash fatality rate, using this End of Year Special Patrol Operations as a launching point”.
He also informed that the Corps had earlier in the year set a target of 20% reduction in the rate of crashes and 25% for fatality rate.
The Corps Marshal revealed further than 157,678 traffic offenders were apprehended within the time under review, representing an 18% increase in the figure recorded in 2018.
Enumerating the achievements of the Corps in the last twelve months, Boboye said: “In our commitment to pursuing the goals of road traffic crashes reduction and fatality rates, the Corps recorded some breakthrough achievements within the year. These include securing the Presidential accent to the six UN Conventions on Road Traffic Safety, making Nigeria one of the ten countries in the world to have achieved this feat and the only one in Africa.
“The Corps visibility was also enhanced with the injection of additional seventy-seven vehicles, the establishment of additional eleven outposts, twelve Unit Commands and the inauguration of four permanent Office Complexes in the state capitals”.
