Festive season: FRSC flags off Drive Safe, Stay Safe campaign

Rebecca Mu’azu, Gombe

The Federal Road Safety Corps has flagged off the Ember Month Campaign in Gombe State with the theme ‘Drive Safe, Stay Safe’, to minimize the risk of deaths in road traffic crashes by 15% and fatality by 20%.

Ember Months are the last four months of the year, with their unique spirit of heightened human and vehicular activities, characterised by hazy harmattan weather, which affects the visibility of the road users and constitute a danger to motorists and vehicle users.

This period is also a time with an increase in economic and social activities due to festivities, like Christmas, which ushers in the New Year.

Consequently, the Federal Road Safety Corps has made it a tradition to organize awareness campaigns for road users within this period, because road crashes and their attendant consequences are high within this period.

This year, the focus of the Ember Months Campaign is centered on educating the motoring public and road users through awareness campaign across all the local government areas in the state.

It is being taken to the motor parks, as well as churches and mosques, focusing on general preventive enforcement of traffic regulations, such as overloading, speed violations, tyre violations, use of phone while driving, Light sign violation, seatbelt use violation, driving license and vehicle papers violations, route violation and lane discipline, as well as attempt to corrupt staff of the FRSC.

This year’s campaign is also meant to strengthen the mandate of the corps of achieving the Sustainable Development Goal 03, 2020 by improving response time to Road Traffic Scenes and all other traffic distresses.

According to the Zonal Commanding Officer of Federal Road Safety Corps, Zone RS3HQ in Yola, Adamawa State, Mr. Edward Zamber, this year’s campaign is to strengthen the mandate of the corps in ensuring compliance with road traffic rules and regulations.

Mr. Zamber, who was represented by Deputy Corps Commander, Mr. Patrick Dabo, said everyone should join hands to sanitize and upgrade intra-city compliance.

“ the Corps as a Lead Agency in road traffic management and administration with the mandate of ensuring compliance to road traffic rules and regulations by the motoring public, this year’s Ember Months Campaign will focus on critical offences in line with Covid-19 Protocols and speed violations, which have caused many crashes on our roads,” Mr. Zamber said.

The Governor of Gombe State, Alhaji Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, said his administration would continue to support the Federal Road Safety Corps in its determination to reduce the carnage on the roads to the barest minimum.

Governor Yahaya, who was represented by the Deputy Governor, Dr. Manasseh Daniel Jattau, said in line with these objectives of the corps that the Gombe State Government had embarked on various road interventions across the state.

“It is in line with this that the Government embarked on massive construction and rehabilitation of urban and semi-urban roads across the state. We have also installed traffic Lights for ease of movements within the metropolis,” Dr. Jattau said.

The Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps in Gombe State, Mr. Ishaku Ibrahim, said the agency was adequately prepared with logistic support, to ensure that the goals of the corps on safety during the last four months of the year were achieved.

Mr. Ibrahim said road traffic crashes in Gombe State between the 2^nd and the 3^rd Quarters of this year were caused by avoidable actions.

A critical analysis of crashes in Gombe State between the 2^nd and 3^rd Quarters indicated that most crashes are as a result of speed, tyre burst, use of phones while driving, and poor visibility at night due to poor or failure of lightening system in the vehicle,” said Mr. Ibrahim.

Nnenna.O