By CHARLES IWUOHA

The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) says it will henceforth undertake massive enlightenment on reduction of speed for vehicles plying the streets within Enugu State to further minimise road crashes.

The Sector Commander of FRSC in Enugu State, Mr. Joseph Udoabba, disclosed this to newsmen while speaking on the line-up of activities marking the United Nation’s Global Road Safety Week, in Enugu on Monday.

The commemorative week, which runs from May 17 to May 23, has the theme: `Street for Life.’

Udoabba noted that to effectively check road crashes on streets; motorists must not exceed 30 kilometres per hour as well as be more alert on streets since other people including children use streets.

According to him, the `slow down campaign’ on streets also operates on the principle of the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-2030 as recently renewed by the FRSC Corps Marshal, Dr Boboye Oyeyemi.

“This week and beyond, we are going to activate a wide range of sensitization programmes which will include 'Early (morning) Safety Cry Gospel’ and use of station officers to disseminate slow down campaign messages.

“Re-orientation of drivers on reducing speed during driving licence processing/renewal; continuous local media sensitisation; massive public enlightenments on roads and parks as well as advocacy visits.

“Other channels will be our visits to crash victims in hospitals, road safety enlightenment talks to mosques and churches; reinvigorate our safety clubs in primary and secondary schools to further spread the message,” he said.

The Sector Commander said that during the sensitisation, there would be emphasis against using phones while driving and driving under influence of drugs and alcohol that result in miscalculations that cause road traffic crashes.

“We will also hammer on the need to install speed limiting devices in commercial vehicles to further ensure that motorists are within acceptable speed limit,” he said.

He noted that the “Slow Down Campaign’ calls for concerted action around speed in order to reduce traffic deaths and injuries, adding: “Road safety is a shared responsibility of all”.

“Even the road safety target within the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will only work if we hold ourselves accountable for actions and inactions while on the road,” he said.

The United Nation’s Global Road Safety Week was first held between April 23 and April 29; 2007.

The event had become a global biennial event with the aim of creating awareness and instilling consciousness in the minds of road users on issues of road safety, road traffic crashes and associated traffic injuries and deaths.