The Federal Road Safety Corps ( FRSC), on Tuesday raised an alarm over the high accident rate on the Okene- Lokoja- Koton Karfe- Gegu road corridor which it said had claimed 79 lives in the past five months.
Mr John Meheux, the FRSC Zonal Commanding Officer, who raised the alarm at the launching of a special intervention patrol along the corridor, said that 95 accidents were recorded along the corridor within the same period.
He said that 789 persons were involved in the accidents, out of which 399 sustained varying degrees of injury.
Meheux, who is in charge of Ekiti, Kwara and Kogi states, stressed the need to check the trend.
He explained that the decision to introduce a special intervention patrol was to reduce the carnage, saying that the road was the second in the country to be accorded such attention.
According to him, the intervention will help to reverse the trend and bring sanity to that corridor which serves as gateway to 26 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
He also said that the operation would in the first instance last for six months, adding that 56 officers, 10 patrol vans, one tow truck and one ambulance would be deployed for the operation.
Meheux, an Assistant Corp Marshall warned motorists plying the corridor to cooperate with the FRSC in its efforts to restore sanity to the road, adding that violation of traffic rules will no longer be overlooked.
Mr Ogochukwu Ugboma, Kogi FRSC Sector Commander, explained that the focus of the operation would be on overloading, driving with worn out tyres, use of cell phone while driving, among others.
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