In a sustained effort towards making the highways safer and eradicating all incidences of road traffic crashes and its attendant fatalities, the Corps Marshal, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Dr Boboye Oyeyemi has urged administrators of local governments in Nigeria to relocate markets from the highways.
Dr Boboye stated this in reaction to the road traffic crash caused by brake failure and loss of control that claimed multiple lives at the Ibaka area of Akungba Akoko, Akoko South-West Local Government Area of Ondo State on Saturday, October 31, 2020.
According to the Corps Public Education Officer, Bisi Kazeem, the Corps Marshal lamented the loss of lives and damage to properties occasioned by the unfortunate but avoidable incident.
The Corps Marshal stated that the crash occurred at about 6.30 p.m, when a DAF Truck loaded with bags of rice rammed into the stalls in the market, and crashed into two Toyota cars and three motorcycles.
The fatal crash was said to have involved 23 people, comprising of 11 male adults, three male children, seven female adults and two female children.
Out of the 23 people,16, comprising of eight male adults, two male children, four female adults and two female children died, and their corpses deposited at Specialist Hospital, Ikare and General Hospital, Iwaro Oka mortuaries by FRSC emergency rescue teams.
The remaining seven people, comprising of three male adults, three female adults and a male child, were rescued.
Boboye, who spoke extensively on the urgency of such relocation, also revealed that the FRSC was concerned with the increasing statistics of innocent citizens who had lost their lives as a result of building markets close to the highways.
He added that it had since initiated impact-oriented operational strategies to curb the menace.
The Corps Marshal also decried the fact that the strategies, no matter how good it would be, would not yield desired results if the government at the grassroots would not rise to the responsibility of relocating those markets.
Commiserating with the families of the victims, Boboye advised road users to be more disciplined, maintain their vehicles regularly and maintain prescribed speed limits at all times, especially at crowded places like markets.
