The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Ondo State Command, has told its officers to redouble their commitment to public enlightenment and education, to reduce crashes on highways.
State Sector Commander, Mr Ezekiel SonAllah, made the call at a one-day capacity building oganised for the officers of Public Enlightenment Office (PEO) across all units in Ondo State.
The Tide’s source reports that the workshop was tagged “Public Education: A Panacea To Reduction Of Road Traffic Crash (RTC) in Nigeria.”
SonAllah, who explained that it was time for officers to advocate aggressively on public enlightenment, added that if people were well enlightened, the chances were there that crashes would reduce.
“This workshop is timely because we are already in ember months and the time has come for us to double our efforts as far as public enlightenment is concerned.
“You are doing well before but time has come to double your efforts by organising programmes and visiting motor parks, Churches, Mosques, market places and traditional institutions to talk to them about the dangers of excessive speed and overloading.
“We can only save lives if people are enlightened and we need to understand that education was what the founding fathers of the corps used at the initial stage.
“So, it’s something we must continue to do through our demonstration and commitment,” he said.
SonAllah, therefore, called on motorists and road users to change their attitude whenever they were driving, saying “life has no duplicate and drivers need to stay alive to drive”.
According to him, the time has come for everybody to take responsibility and this is ember month where we expect high vehicular movement.
“You must improve the condition of your vehicles to ensure that they are road worthy. You must obey traffic rules and regulations and use defensive driving techniques”, he stated.
Also, the State Deputy Sector Commander and Head of Operation, Mr Richard Adetoro, admonished the PEO officers to be committed and show passion in their job.
Adetoro said the officers had a lot to do, especially in the Ember months, adding that officers had to be passionate, advising and appealing to the inner-self of motorists about safety.
“You have to appeal to them (motorists) of the importance of their safety to their family members and preach the gospel either in churches or in commercial vehicles.
“But your own gospel is safety on the highway,” he said.