Accidents claim 137 in FCT

The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Sector Command, says road accidents claimed 137 lives in the past nine months.

The sector commander, Mr Samuel Ochi, told our reporter on Friday in Abuja that 738 accidents occurred in the FCT from January to September.

He said that a total of 3,616 people were involved in the accidents, adding that 1,334 people were injured from the accidents.

“The number of vehicles involved stood at 10,062. If you look at the causes of these crashes, we have the leading cause to be speed violation.

“The number of the people who were involved in these accidents due to over speeding is 578, while road violations – people that drove one-way leading to collisions – are 35,” he said.

The sector commander added that accidents due to dangerous driving were 75.

Ochi said that most of the accidents were caused by speeding, over loading, use of old tyres and night travel.

He said: “Crashes, sometimes, cannot be attributed to over speeding; some people can lose control of their vehicles because of the condition of their health.

“During the nine months, 39 of these people were recorded, while obstruction, that is, allowing vehicles to block roads, leading to crash, were eight and, then, we have like seven other cases.

“If you look at the route that these crashes occured, the route in the FCT recording many crashed is Abaji -Dangote -Gwagalada Road.

“That road was the most accident-prone one during this period; Zuba-Giri was also responsible.

“We have Nyanya-Aya- Maraba as the third most prominent route that recorded crashes; then, Area 1 Roundabout.”

He advised motorists and commuters to avoid night travel, speeding and other road-unfriendly acts that could threaten their lives and lives of other road users.