FRSC Engages Volunteers For Post-Crash Care Accident Victims

The Federal Road
Safety Corps (FRSC) has enlisted the services of 40 volunteers to assist it in the area of post crash care of accident victims on the Okene-Lokoja-Abuja highway.
The Kogi State Sector Commander of the FRSC, Mr Godwin Omiko, who announced the engagement to newsmen in Lokopja yesterday said that the volunteers were recruited from Koton-Karfe and Osara communities.
Omiko said the recruits would be trained on how to handle accident victims.
“It has become expedient that road traffic victims are given prompt attention to reduce fatality. It is a common knowledge that first responders to crash scenes are villagers and they often complicate the health conditions of victims because of poor handling,” he said.
Omiko said the move would help the FRSC to achieve its objective of reducing road crashes and fatality by 15 per cent and 25 per cent respectively by the end of the year.
He said the organisation was beaming its searchlight on Okene-Osara-Irepeni-Zariagi and Karara-Koton Karfe sections of the highway because of incessant crashes on the sections.
“We shall fortnightly convene mobile courts to try violators of traffic rules until sanity is restored to the route.
“This is in addition to our normal patrol operations which shall be sustained by all unit commands all over the state,” he explained.
The sector commander said that two sections of the Lokoja-Abuja road were responsible for more than 70 per cent of the crashes on the road, saying that the commission had no choice but to begin full enforcement of the traffic laws to improve the situation.
He said the FRSC would commence free training for drivers and motorcyclists plying the route and deploy its staff as undercover agents to board vehicles as passengers with a view to monitoring the attitude of the drivers and the reaction of the passengers to drivers’ behaviour.
He reminded drivers of articulated vehicle that the use of retro-reflective tapes on the Okene-Lokoja-Abuja remained compulsory and warned that violators would henceforth face the full weight of the law.
Omiko also reminded motorists that the rainy season was around the corner, urging them to work on their wipers and to change worn out tyres and broken windscreen in readiness for the season.