The Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) has devised a way of tackling the menace of reckless convoys of top government officials without endangering the lives of the commission’s officers.

Corps Marshal of the Federation, Boboye Oyeyemi, disclosed this during a media interaction on Saturday in Lagos. The strategy, he said, requires FRSC officials not to endanger themselves by confronting the reckless convoys but to take down and send to him (the Corps Marshall) details of the convoy for him to promptly report the breach of road safety rules to their superior officers.

“If a mad man is coming, you do not confront him but make way for him. I have directed my men not to confront the convoys but to send me their details for necessary action,” he said.

Corps Marshall Oyeyemi said that this strategy has been yielding fruits and would continue to be implemented by FRSC.

He lamented the sad results of reckless driving and road rage, disclosing that the commission has lost seven officers in the past four months. “We are being attacked everyday,” he said. “From December 2015 to now I have lost up to seven officers.” The Corps Marshall, however, vowed that the culprits will not go free, saying: “We are going to prosecute them.”

Corps Marshall Oyeyemi also spoke on FRSC’s campaign for passengers to wear rear seat belt, emphasising that doing so saves lives.

On the commission’s decision to introduce speed limiters, he revealed that studies have showed that 65% of road crashes in the country involve commercial vehicles. “That is why we want to cut down the speed and by so doing cut down on crashes and save more lives,” he said.

The Corps Marshall equally advised against over-loading and advised drivers not to text or read text messages while driving so as to further reduce the number of road accidents in the country.

He expressed gratitude to the National Economic Council (NEC) for approving FRSC’s Strategy Documents during its meeting on Thursday. “This is what we have been waiting for, for the past five years,” he said. “It prescribes the role of everyone. With this more lives will be saved and there will be growth in road safety management.”

Other FRSC top shots at the media interaction included O C Oladele, Head of Planning Advisory; Zonal Commanding Officer Zone 2, Nseobong C. Akpabio; Lagos Sector Commander, Hyginus Omeje; and Head, Media Relations and Strategy, ’Bisi Kazeem.

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