The Zone RS2 Command of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) comprising Ogun and Lagos states,  recorded 882 road accidents  which led to the death of 399 persons from  January to August.

The Zonal Commanding Officer, Mr Samuel Obayemi, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that the zone was still collating the figure for the remaining part  of the year.

“With the increase in the road crashes and fatalities, it has become imperative for stakeholders to step up actions during the Yuletide season to reduce the tide”.

“We have a total of 66, 954 traffic offenders  arrested since the beginning of the year. Tyre, speed limit and driver’s licence violations are among the prevalent offences”.

“From  January to August, we recorded 882 crashes. This led to the death of 399 persons. We are waiting to collate the figure for  September to December. Following this development, we are putting all measures in place to see that we bring road crashes to the nearest minimum”.

“There is no organisation that will be comfortable with the trend of road traffic crashes and fatalities,” Obayemi, an Assistant Corps Marshal, said.

He urged motorists to be patient especially during Christmas, saying that there were diversions in major highways due to road reconstructions.

He said that lack of adherence to speed limit, directional signs and others were among major reasons for road accidents.

On efforts to stem the tide, Obayemi said that, apart from enforcement and enlightenment campaigns, FRSC  had met severally with transport unions and other stakeholders and came out with communiqués on the way forward.

According to him, FRSC has desk officers at various tank farms in Lagos to check the road worthiness of tankers and trailers to reduce road accidents  associated with articulated vehicles.

“No vehicle should be allowed to load if it is not road worthy. We must bring down the number of road crashes.

“Regularly, transport unions are supposed to check parks and ensure that vehicles are road worthy. There is need for them to improve on this.

“With our end of the year patrol, these infractions by motorists will be checked.

Obayemi advised motorists, especially long distance commercial drivers, to rest at intervals to avoid accidents caused by fatigue on the part of drivers.

“By the time you drive a vehicle for almost eight hours without having  proper rest, fatigue will set in, it is likely to lead to crashes. Rest areas have been established to enable drivers to take rest and get refreshed before continuing the journey,” he said.