The Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, has appealed to stakeholders to key into the Nations Decade of Action and Institutional Roadmap of the corps to achieve global safety targets.

 

The new Anambra State Sector Commander of the corps, Mr. Adeoye Irelewuyi, made the call at the 2021 Global Road Safety Week held in Awka.

Statistics from the World Health Organization, WHO, indicates that each year, about one point-three-five million people die from road traffic injuries worldwide, putting road traffic crash as one of the leading causes of death for children and young people between the ages of five and twenty-nine.

 

Speaking during a Press conference to mark the flag-off of the 2021 Road Safety Week, Mr. Irelewuyi who spoke extensively on the theme of the event Street for Life”, a slogan which calls for thirty kilometer per hour speed limit, restated the corps’ commitment to traffic safety and management to ensure safer motoring environment in Anambra State.

According to him, a  analysis of 2021 and 2020 road crashes caused by over speeding from January to May shows that an increase has been recorded in year 2021 over 2020, while 2020 recorded traffic crashes were twenty-seven, with seventy-one in the same period of 2021, representing a seventy per cent increase.

 

Mr. Irelewuyi however noted that FRSC in Anambra State has deployed proactive measures to tackle the issue of road crashes, especially those associated with over speeding in the State, and called for a synergy between relevant stakeholders to key into the initiative of raising awareness about societal impact and costs of road traffic accidents.

 

On his part, the Anambra State Commissioner for Transport, Mr. Afam Mbanefo, who explained the need for slow driving to make crashes rare and save lives, cautioned motorists to avoid over-speeding, over-loading of their vehicles, even as he advised the motoring public to install speed limiting device.

A Transport company stakeholder, Mr. Joseph Ndubisi, called on Federal Road Safety Corps to do more of public enlightenment on road usage to make the roads safer for all.

 

In attendance at the event were the Anambra State Special Marshal Coordinator, Barrister Ben Osaka, the Senior Special Assistant to Governor Willie Obiano on Petroleum and Union Matters, Comrade Peter Nwosu, among others.

 

The 2021 Global Road Safety Week, which is sixth on the roll, will feature advocacy visits, lectures and prayer session.