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As part of activities to mark the sixth year of United Nations Global Road Safety Week (UNGRSW), GreenLight Initiative has urged the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) to implement a 30km speed limit policy in schools, residential areas and markets, considered as high-risk corridors.
As a biennial global road safety campaign hosted by World Health Organisation (WHO), UNGRSW brings together individuals, governments, NGOs and corporations from around the world to raise awareness on road safety and make changes aimed at reducing road accidents.
WHO disclosed that over 1.35 million people die in road crashes yearly, amounting to one person every 24 seconds, stressing: “Excessive speed is at the core of the road accidents, with one in three deaths in high-income countries being attributed to over speeding.”
It said besides, people have devised means to work from home, which had reduced their mobility due to the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, but the fatality numbers still remain as people still drive at higher speeds.
To mark this year’s sixth UN Global Road Safety Week 2021 in Nigeria, GreenLight Initiative partnered with different organisations to implement advocacy campaign programmes.
Executive Director, GreenLight Initiative, Simon Obi, in a statement issued yesterday, noted that there was the need for urgent action to ensure that people enjoy safe road travels, as well as have healthy and green cities.
Bauchi State Sector Command of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Yusuf Abdullahi, has recommended a speed limit of 30 kilometres per hour in urban or congested areas for all categories of vehicles.
Abdullahi, who was represented by the Sector Spokesman, Rilwanu Suleimanu, disclosed that the PRSC observed that speeding was responsible for about 30 per cent of road accidents in the country.
He explained that the corps would be using the sixth United Nations Global Road Safety Week, which commenced on Monday, May 17 and would last till May 23, 2021, to embark on an advocacy programme to enlighten people on the issue with a view to reducing road accidents and the resultant deaths in the country.
