The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Gombe State command, on Friday inaugurated the 2021 Ember months campaign across the state.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the theme of this year’s campaign is “Maintain Safe Speed, Avoid Night Travels and Enjoy Quality Road Experience.”
Gov. Inuwa Yahaya, who inaugurated the campaign at the New Mile Three Motor Park, Gombe, said there was need for motorists to be calm during the period.
Yahaya, represented by his deputy, Manassah Jatau, said that the months were viewed as ‘rush hours’ of the year when crashes occurred with serious injuries and high fatalities.
According to him, the state government is investing in the construction and repair of roads to ensure safety of citizens while plying the roads.
“Safety is everybody’s business and the state government is a critical stakeholder as such, we will continue to partner with FRSC and other stakeholders in ensuring safety on the road.’’
The governor advised road users and the residents to support the FRSC and other stakeholders by abiding with traffic rules and regulations to ensure safety of road users.
In his remarks, the Sector Commander, Mr Ishaku Ibrahim, said the essence of the campaign was to create awareness on safe road use to the road users.
Ibrahim added that awareness would be created on the critical offences embedded on violations of road traffic rules, general tips on rescue and first aid procedures.
He attributed causes of crashes in the state to over speeding, tyre burst, use of phone while driving and poor visibility at night or failure of lightening system.
While urging motorists to avoid night traveling, Ibrahim said that it would scaled up 24-hour surveillance with rescue operations.
The Emir of Gombe, Alhaji Abubakar Shehu-Abubakar III, urged motorists to support efforts of the FRSC towards ensuring safety of drivers and passengers.
The emir, represented by the District Head of Herwagana, Alhaji Inuwa Lamido, said that strict compliance to the traffic rules would help reduce crashes on the road.
Also, Mr Moses Nnadi, Coordinator, Gombe State Special Marshal, advised drivers against drinking while driving, adding that such acts led to road accident.
Nnadi said “when you drink, you no longer see things the way you ought to see them; your sense organs have been affected, this makes it difficult for drivers to take the right decisions while on road.’’
NAN also reports that during the exercise alcohol test were conducted on some drivers in different motors parks in the Gombe.
