19 die in Kwara accident, corps marshal blames excessive speeding

The Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Shehu Mohammed, has blamed an accident that claimed the lives of 19 people along the new Jebba road in Kwara State on excessive speeding and wrongful overtaking.

The corps marshal, in a statement signed by FRSC’s Ag. Corps Public Education Officer, Olusegun Ogungbemide, stated this while yesterday while speaking over the mishap at Kanbi village, on the Olooru new Jebba road in Kwara State which left 19 people dead on Thursday.

He said investigation has so far revealed that the crash, which occurred as a result of excessive speeding and wrongful overtaking, involved two vehicles; a blue Iveco trailer with no trace of registration and a white Toyota Hiace bus with registration number LSD363YE.

He said a total of 25 people were involved, comprising 13 male adults, five female adults, two female children and five male children.

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Mohammed said the injured were taken to Orisun Ayo Hospital for medical attention.

He recalled that in recent times, apart from setting up an inter-agency joint task force to tackle the excesses of trailer drivers, the corps equally enhanced its enlightenment campaigns as well as ensured robust engagement of stakeholders, especially the various transport unions, in the bid to curb such ugly occurrences.

Meanwhile, the corps marshal, has said the corps is now ready to ‘bite’ and ensure that road traffic crashes are curbed ahead of the Eid-el-Kabir Sallah celebration.

Speaking yesterday in Abuja at a press briefing on the level of preparedness for the special operations during the Eid-el-Kabir, he said recent developments on the roads reveal some of the challenges confronting safe use of the highways which the corps has stepped up to confront on all fronts.

He emphasised that the corps would carry out aggressive enforcement, including conducting over 200 mobile courts’ operations to prosecute offenders.

He said over 743 patrol vehicles, 184 administrative vehicles, 92 ambulances, 23 tow trucks and 144 motorbikes are being deployed as part of the patrol logistics.