FRSC Celebrates Safety Week

Mr Vincent Jack, the Bayelsa FRSC Sector Commander, said on Saturday in Yenagoa that the commission was promoting pedestrian safety, as pedestrians were integral part of road users

He said the commission was promoting the pedestrians’ safety consciousness in line with the 2013 theme of the UN Global Road Safety Week.

The theme of the week is “ Pedestrian Safety’’.

The sector commander, told newsmen after a walk/cycling rally that the commission would enlist the support of the Bayelsa House of Assembly in the campaign for pedestrian safety.

According to him, the FRSC is seeking the collaboration of the legislature in Bayelsa so that it could make pedestrian friendly laws.

He also said that the FRSC was promoting the habit of walking and cycling as a means of keeping fit and maintaining healthy lifestyles.

The sector commander said that walking and cycling were effective antidotes to obesity, heart diseases and other life threatening ailments.

Mr Peter Akpe, the Majority Leader of Bayelsa House of Assembly, who participated in the rally, promised that the assembly would provide the legislative support for the campaign.

He said that he would also be walking and cycling to the assembly on selected days to encourage fellow lawmakers to imbibe the practice

Our correspondent  reports that participants in the rally moved round major areas of Bayelsa, covering five kilometres.

A cycling team from Bayelsa chapter of Cycling Federation of Nigeria participated in the rally.

In a related development, the FRSC has blamed the high pedestrian accident rate in Lokoja to the lack of pedestrian bridges in the town.

The Kogi FRSC Sector Commander, Mr Olakunle Motajo, said the increasing rate of pedestrian deaths at intersections on NATAKO, Ganaja and Murtala Mohammed/Ibrahim Babangida roads in the city had reached alarming level.

Matajo spoke in Lokoja after a walk/ jogging organised by FRSC as part of activities to mark the UN Pedestrian Safety Week.

He said the command would, during the week, shift focus from the highways to pedestrians’ safety.

He expressed delight that no single death had been recorded among pedestrians since the commencement of the UN Safety Week on May 6.