The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), on Friday, deployed no fewer than 701 personnel for its Eid-El-Kabir Special Patrol to ensure free flow of traffic within road corridors in Enugu State.
The Sector Commander of FRSC Enugu State Command, Mr Adeyemi Sokunbi, disclosed this during a press briefing on the address by the FRSC Corps Marshal, Shehu Mohammed, on Eid-El-Kabir Special Patrol in Enugu.
Sokunbi noted that the Corps had also deployed 17 vehicles for the special patrol, adding it included: 11 patrol vehicles, one ambulance, one tow truck, two administrative vehicles and two motorbikes.
According to him, the week-long special patrol will started today, June 14 and end on June 22; while among 701 personnel deployed, we have 438 FRSC regular marshals and 263 FRSC special marshals for Enugu State.
The sector commander noted that reflective jackets, traffic cones, tyre pressure gauges, a number of extricating machines and digital breathalyzers are part of the tools set aside for the special patrol operation.
He said: “I wish to relate to you some of the critical road traffic management issues as well as the strategies we have put in place to ensure that our roads are safe for all to use.
“I say this because; recent developments on our road reveal some of the challenges confronting safe use of the highways which the Corps has stepped up to confront on all fronts.
“These challenges include the ugly trend of using trailers and trucks to convey human beings, night trips, fatigue, speed violations, driving under influence, as well as overloading of vehicles.”
He said to combat these ugly trends and meet up with the changing times; especially developments coming from these unsafe behaviors like the use of trailers to convey passengers, the Corps introduced some key safety initiatives to tackle the menace.
“One of these is the result oriented efforts that have been directed towards effective collaboration with the State Judiciaries for timely prosecution of drivers and vehicle owners caught contravening established traffic regulations like overloading, dangerous driving, use of phone and speeding.
“These violations will be tamed through the instrumentally of mobile court operations.
“Another key road traffic infraction we have stepped up against is driving under the influence of alcohol and other substances.
“The Corps in collaboration with beer Sectorial Group has been able to make available adequate breathalyzers which have been deployed to motor parks and highways to check and stop drivers who control the wheels under alcohol and substance influence.
“This is to minimize tendencies of fatalities on our roads as most of the drivers who indulge in substance before mounting on the wheel always end up in fatal crashes,” he said.
He noted that the FRSC is doing aggressive sensitisation to all road users in their door steps especially drivers’ loading bays, camps and parks to appeal to the conscience of these drivers against unnecessary contravention of traffic rules.
The commander said that during the special patrol, the Corps would carry out aggressive enforcement including conducting Mobile Courts operations, with the aim of checking the following offences:
“Speeding and dangerous driving/overtaking; lane indiscipline/route violation; road obstructions; use of phone while driving; overloading; and seat-belt/child restraint use violations.
“Others are: Passenger’s manifest violation; operation of mechanical deficient and rickety vehicles; loading of trailers with passengers and illegal use of spy number plates among others,” he said.
Sokunbi noted that when drivers drive recklessly, “it is your right as commuters to speak up and report such drivers to FRSC operatives or any other security outposts on the highways”.
The managers of transport fleet companies, who attended the briefing, commended the FRSC for its speed in rescuing road crashes victims and their follow-up on accident victims in hospitals especially the recent Ugwu-Onyema accident along Enugu-Onitsha Expressway.