The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has said that Katsina, Jigawa, Osun, and Kwara State topped the list of states with the highest fatalities of road traffic crashes during the Operation Zero Tolerance campaign in 2023.
It said the crashes were primarily caused by the overloading of trailers with a combination of passengers, goods, and animals, speed violations, and night trips.
The Corps Marshal FRSC Dauda Ali Biu, disclosed this in a briefing on Monday, January 22.
Operation Zero Tolerance campaign was a special patrol operation initiated by the corps in December 2023 to curtail road traffic crashes in the country.
He said: “Between 15 December 2022, and 15 January 2024, which marked the period of the special operations, a total of 634 road crashes took place nationwide, as against 535 in the same period in 2022, representing a 19 percent increase.
“The 2022 crashes involved 4709 people, this is against 4162 recorded in 2022 signifying 13 percent increase. Meanwhile, the total number of people injured increased by 17 percent as the Corps has a record of 2,055 people injured in 2023 against 1,762 in the same period in 2022.
“Also, the Corps rescued a total of 2319 people in 2022, signifying 13 percent when compared to a total of 2,050 recorded in 2022.”
Giving further updates on the FRSC activities last year, the Corps Marshal 5, 081 persons were killed in 10,617 road crashes recorded across the country from January 2022 to December 2023.
He said this was against 6,456 recorded from 13,656 crashes in 2022, representing a 21 percent reduction.
Biu also said 31, 874 persons were injured in road traffic crashes in 2023, against 38,930 recorded in 2022, representing an 18 percent reduction.
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According to the Corps Marshal, the main factors responsible for the crashes were speed violations, overloading, driving under the influence, continuous night journeys leading to fatigue, dangerous driving, and wrongful overtaking.
Biu said the corps deployed a total of 8,115 officers, 20,600 Marshals, over 13,000 Special Marshals, 5,10 patrol vehicles, 184 administrative vehicles, 20 Power Bikes, 98 Ambulances, and 52 tow trucks to strategic corridors.
He said due to fatalities recorded in the through road traffic crashes, the corps was planning to introduce speed limit devices in all vehicles nationwide.
Biu said the corps was working with the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to prosecute drivers and vehicle owners who violate road traffic laws, such as night travel and overspeeding.
The Corps Marshal advocated for an improvement in the modes of transportation in the country to reduce road traffic crashes.
He said for road traffic crashes to be reduced in the country, there must be functional train services, airways, and inland waterways.
“Also the kind of vehicles we use for transportation must change. The use of Hummer buses, 18 seater buses must stop, because they constitute the bulk of fatalities on road traffic crashes on our roads,” the Corps Marshal said.