The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) Kano State Command on Wednesday, inuagurated the Eid-el-Kabir public enlightenment campaign on safety in the state.
The campaign with the theme: “Be Alert, Road Crashes Can Kill: Fate Saves Once A Time, Safety Saves All The Time” was held at the Malam Kato Square Motor Park in Kano.
The Sector Commander, Mr Zubairu Mato, noted that 1.3 million lives were approximately cut short annually as a result of Road Traffic Crashes (RTC), Road Traffic Injuries (RTI) and Road Traffic Fatalities (RTF) globally.
According to him, it has been acknowledged that the situation is even worst in developing nations, with very critical conditions in the African sub-region.
“In Kano state, the challenges are enormous, from January to December 2021, Data has shown that more than 300 Road Traffic Crashes occurred.
“It is indeed worrisome to inform you that, from January to end of June, a total of 138 crashes involving 154 commercial vehicles and 57 private vehicles were recorded in Kano state.
“This involved 1,236 people in which 196 people were killed and 777 sustained serious injuries while 318 were rescued unhurt (not injured).
“This is quite worrisome and unacceptable, as the fatality figure exceeds the total number of deaths from COVID-19 pandemic, which was put at 112 since its outbreak in Kano state from December 2019 to Sept. 22, 2021,” he said.
Mato identified speeding, dangerous overtaking, attempts to avoid pot holes, lane hopping and overloading as responsible for the crashes and the high fatality figure.
He noted that the roads remained unsafe for motorists despite tireless efforts by various actors in the transportation sector, including government at all levels, the media, and indeed the collective efforts of non- governmental organisations.
“Speed violation is also a major factor for crashes and it accounted for 48 per cent of the total crashes reported, hence the need for commercial vehicles to install Speed Limiting Device in their vehicles to curb the ugly trend.
“Dangerous and wrongful overtaking followed closely as it accounted for 10 per cent loss of control and driving under influence of alcohol recorded the least of the total road traffic crashes reported.
“Similarly, a total of 273 people were killed in the crashes, within the period, a total of 1, 295 people suffered various degrees of injuries in the crashes which involved 2,451 people.
On his part, the Territorial Coordinator of Kano and Jigawa, Dr Nura Abdullahi, said that NEMA would continue to collaborate with FRSC to sensitise motorists.
He urged motorists to desist from overloading and be careful while driving.
Also the Dangoruba of Kano, Sule Gaya, urged stakeholders to join hands to minimise accidents on Nigeria roads.