By As organizations and government parastatals are winding down with taking stock of the year 2017, it is a sad one for the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has it has announced that 72 officers and men of Kaduna Zonal Command of the corps were killed on duty by reckless drivers in 2018.
The FRSC Zonal Commanding Officer, Abayomi Omiyale, said while some of the officers were knocked down, others were attacked by errant motorists and other road users.
He said, “Over the last one year, our patrol officers have been knocked down; some were attacked or even shot, leading to the death of 72 patrol officers in the zone. Our vehicles and properties were also vandalised.”
Omiyale revealed the figure at a one-day retreat organised for FRSC commanding officers in the zone, News Agency of Nigeria reports.
He said, “Over the last one year, our patrol officers have been knocked down; some were attacked or even shot, leading to the death of 72 patrol officers in the zone. Our vehicles and properties were also vandalised.”
Omiyale said a total of 717 accidents, involving 6,190 vehicles, were recorded during the period under review, representing a 5.8 per cent reduction in the 725 crashes which were recorded in 2017.
He said 687 persons died in the accidents, reflecting a 16 per cent increase in the 583 deaths that were recorded in 2017.
He, however, stated that the number of those injured reduced from 3,144 persons in 2017 to 3,047 persons in 2018, representing a 3.0 per cent reduction.
NAN reports that a breakdown of the statistics indicates that Jigawa recorded 84 accidents with 69 deaths — the highest in the zone — Kastina State recorded 14 accidents, while the number of accidents in Kaduna State reduced from 24 in 2017 to 14 in 2018.
According to the road agency, reckless driving is to be particularly blamed for the increasing number of deaths from road crashes in the zone on vehicles overloading, excessive speeding and reckless driving.
