FRSC warns public to avoid night travel after fatal Niger road accident

The Corps Marshal, Federal Road Safety Corps, (FRSC) Shehu Mohammed, has called on stakeholders, and the motoring public to join FRSC in cautioning their subjects against night travels.

Mohammed, who made the call in a statement by the Corps Public Education Officer (CPEO) Corps Commander, Olusegun Ogungbemide on Monday in Abuja, also urged the public to stop using unsafe transportation.

The corps marshal was reacting to the reports of a fatal road mishap that occurred at KM 02, Koriagi village, Agaei, Lapai-Bida route, Niger. He said the accident was a result of a speed violation.

He said that the accident, which eventually led to loss of control and ended up in an inferno happened at exactly 04:40 am on Sunday, and involved 55 male adults. He said that 37 passengers were killed while 18 were rescued with various degrees of injuries.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the crash involved four vehicles, a DAF tanker, two DAF trucks and a Toyota car.

The tanker, loaded with petrol, was travelling from Lagos to Kano, and was reportedly driving against the legal speed limit when the driver lost control of the wheels and fell on the highway. The impact resulted in an inferno that burnt down the vehicle.

While the trailer was in flames, another DAF truck conveying cows and humans, also crashed into the burning tanker. The other two vehicles, a Toyota and another DAF truck also crashed into the inferno. All the affected vehicles got burnt down completely.

NAN reports that the Corps Marshal had earlier ordered an immediate clampdown on the transportation of inflammable substances like petroleum products across the country on August 30.

The directives informed massive deployment of patrol operatives on the nation’s highways to conduct search and identify vehicles carrying these products. The FRSC boss, however, said that the corps had risen to the challenge of confronting the bad road use behaviour on all fronts since he assumed office in May.

According to him, this gesture led to a high level of partnership between the FRSC, leadership of the various transport unions, security agencies, as well as state traffic management agencies.

“Irrespective of these efforts, most commuters still disregard the sensitisation campaigns and travel to their destinations using the wrong means of transportation.

“More worrisome is the fact that a lot of these trailer drivers travel at night when the operational arm of the corps and the task force are not available.

“It is on the strength of the foregoing that we make these clarion calls to members of the Public to compliment FRSC’s efforts towards bringing these deadly road traffic violations to a halt,” he said.