 |
| The ill fated Bus |
The attention of the Federal Road
Safety Corps has been drawn to the reactions of a member of the Nigerian
Medical Association, Ekiti State through a publication in thisdaylive.com
of 28th May 2016, over the root causes of the fatal road traffic
crash which claimed the lives of six medical Doctors and a driver from
Ekiti State.
Following the statements credited to
Dr. Ekundare Folu and one of his colleagues alleging that over speeding, being
the reason FRSC attributed to the cause of the crash, is unfounded, the Head,
Media Relations and Strategy of the Corps, Bisi Kazeem, hereby wish to
clear the air and put the facts straight. First and foremost we wish to convey
FRSC sincere condolence to the families and friends of the victims of the
road crash. However, it should be noted that pronouncement made by the Corps on
any crash, is always based on Technical Investigation carried out by a unit of
Safety Engineers domiciled in every Command of the FRSC spread nationwide.
Under the present circumstances, it
is unfair for Dr Ekundare to describe the genuine intent of the Corps to
establish the remote and immediate causes of the fatal crash, in partial
fulfilment of its statutory mandate, as “distasteful and derogatory given the
helplessness of the victims at the scene of the accident”.
As the nation’s lead agency on road
safety management and traffic administration, the onus lies on the FRSC to
immediately investigate any road traffic crash and come up with recommendations
which could assist in forestalling future occurrence. It will be recalled that
the Corps has undertaken similar exercise after previous road traffic crashes
such as the recent fatal crash which claimed the lives of Former Minister of
State for Labour and members of his family, Late Mr. James Ocholi.
Findings from the same fatal crash
also threw up the need for the Nigerian motoring public to strictly adhere to
road traffic regulations bordering on compulsory use of rear seat belts by
occupants of a moving vehicle, in line with the National Road Traffic
Regulations, 2016.
This investigation which is in line
contemporary global standards, seek to establish some factors such as
mechanical status of the vehicle, tyres, road condition and possibly, the
psychological state of the driver prior to the auto crash.
It is also unfair to assert that the
Corps’ operatives arrive late at the scene of the road crash but were
also reluctant to take the victims to the hospital. The Corps has always lived
up to its resolve to prioritize rescue operations in the event of a road crash.
It is also on record that the FRSC has through its Call Centre, maintained
seamless interface with road users and has reduced its response time to road
crashes and other traffic-related matters to 15 minutes.
For avoidance of doubt, our nearest
Unit Command to the scene of the crash, Katari Unit, got a distress call about
the fatal auto crash on 24th April 2016 at 16.32 hrs ( 6.32pm)
and our rescue team from Katari arrived the scene at exactly 16.42hrs
(6.42pm), thus our men arrived there 10 minutes after the crash and was
supported by another team at Doka to assist in taking the victims ( dead and
injured) to St. Gerald Hospital in Kaduna where the Kaduna state Sector Command
immediately took over the matter.
The Kaduna state Sector Commander,
Corps Commander, Francis Ugboma also visited the hospital to monitor the status
of the injured victims and condole with the bereaved. It was at the hospital
that the Sector Commander put a call through to the FRSC Corps Marshal who also
spoke to Dr. Akinbote, the Chairman of Ekiti state Medical Association and
commiserated with the NMA and bereaved families.
From
the words of Dr Ekundare, he was consistently monitoring the acceleration of
the driver whenever he hits 110km/hr, “I was in the same vehicle, sitting in
the row behind the driver and I checked the speedometer from time to time. The
bus also makes a beeping sound once the speed exceeds 110km/hr. Let me state
categorically that the bus driver was not speeding.” It is rather unfortunate
for him to conclude that a bus which was consistently exceeding the recommended
90km/hr, was not on a high speed.
Much
as we do not wish to join issues with Dr Ekundayo on his submissions, It is
instructive to disclose at this juncture that our investigations revealed that
while the vehicle was in motion, the right rear tyre which was a Bridgestone
brand manufactured in 2008, blew up, indicating that the tyre which
has expired since 2012, was not roadworthy. The remaining two tyres
were manufactured in 2014 while one tyre was churned out this year. It
was also discovered that out of the 3 tyres, one had patch marks. It is obvious
that the driver’s acceleration rate constituted to excessive speeding, sudden
tyre burst and somersault of the bus.
In
the same vein, we frown at Dr Ekundare’s assertion that the FRSC uses road
crashes of this nature to further propagate its on-going initiative on the
speed limiting device. It is already a global knowledge that speed limiting
device plays vital role in reducing road traffic crashes associated with speed
limit violation and this underscores the position of the United Nations on the
need for concrete but decisive steps to be taken by member nations to address
the menace of speed induced road traffic crashes as we march towards realizing
the UN decade of action on road safety 2011 – 2020.
Disturbed by this unfortunate
development, the FRSC Corps Marshal had after commiserating with the Ekiti
state Executive Governor, convened a stakeholders summit on tyre with a
commitment to re-launch a nationwide tyre awareness campaign as part of
measures to reinvigorate public consciousness on the tyre care, routine checks,
avoidance of tokumbo tyres and to organize training sessions for
Vulcanizers to further inject order and decorum in their activities.
While we still commiserate with
bereaved families, the Nigerian Medical Association and the people of Ekiti
state over the unfortunate incident, we wish to reiterate our commitment to
enthrone safer road culture for the Nigerian motoring public.
Tags
Society