Road accidents kill 189 people in Ondo in 10 months

Over 189 people have died from road accidents in Ondo State between January and October this year, the Federal Road Safety Corps,FRSC , has said. The Ondo State Sector Commander of the Corps, Mary Wakawa, who disclosed this while speaking to PREMIUM TIMES in Akure, said an estimated 1,170 persons were injured in road mishaps within the same period. Ms. Wakawa said the death and injuries occurred in the 283 road traffic accidents so far recorded in the state this year. She said 237 deaths were recorded in road accidents in 2011, while 759 people sustained various degrees of injuries. “If we look at the number of injured persons, it is higher this year because we have drivers that are beating the regulation by carrying overload,” she said. Ms. Wakawa noted that the way and manner which road mishaps claim lives is more alarming than the dreaded HIV/AIDS. The sector commander explained that the Owo/ Akure Highway recorded the highest numbers of road accidents in the first half of the year. She cautioned drivers to be more cautious while driving during ‘ember months’ (September, October, November, and December), stressing that most road mishaps are caused by reckless driving. To ensure that accidents are reduced to the barest minimum, the Ondo State Sector Commander said mobile courts will be located at strategic places on the highway to arrest and try those who flout traffic rules. She said some motorists erroneously view road accidents asrandom events and as an inevitable outcome of road transport, which was not the case. The commander said road traffic accidents are largely preventable and predictable because it is a human problem. Ms. Wakawa said the corps also put in place mechanism to check the excesses of its own staff. “To ensure strict compliance with the 100km per hour maximum speed limit for all vehicles in the fleet of the corps, all the vehicles had been tracked and are being monitored from the headquarters in Abuja,” she said.