The RACE

ROAD SAFETY ARTICLE

By Jonas Agwu

I know I am a Christian by birth. And a Christian by faith. I am also a Christian by name. Yet despite these facts, I often tell my staff that I am still striving to be a true Christian by my daily conduct and actions as well as by my commitment in my marketplace (Federal Road Safety Corps) where God has placed me to save life. As a Christian and as a believer, I know that often, we talk about the end time when everything will ultimately seize after the whole end time process is completed.

However, one crucial part of the end time message which scares me is the scripture passage where the bible says that men will become lovers of what is evil and haters of what is good. This I see daily on our roads. Specifically, in 2 Timothy 3:1-17, it says,’’you should know Timothy, that in the last days, there will be very difficult times. For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.

If I sound like a man on God’s mission on the pulpit, please do forgive me but I just feel I should do this today. I know that in the last seven -two hours I have battled with my health but to God’s glory and by His mercies over my life, I am healed and restored. But while I was pondering on God’s mercies and the futility of life and all the backstabbing, I reflected on the events of the last three weeks and only this scripture could hit my head.

For those who don’t remember, on 14 April, 2024,along Ogbomoso-Oyo road,19people were killed due to driving against traffic. On 18 April, 2024, a crash occurred at Tashar Yari around Wambai,killing six people out of 56. Again,on 19 April,2024 around Wudil, a crash killed twelve people out of 28 people. Last Sunday, 28 April 2024, a crash claimed the lives of 19 people at Okene in Kogi State. On April 30, sixteen passengers were burnt to death after an 18-seater commercial bus crashed and burnt into flames in Enugu State. Almost all three road traffic crashes resulted in fire.

The one involving a Dangote trust was most horrifying as rescue efforts were handicapped by the fire for almost three hours after which our operatives could rescue no one but scrapped the burnt corpses to the mortuary.Despite these horrifying fatalities, daily drivers indulge in the same irresponsible driving behavior while touts and youths’ daily assault our operatives for both justifiable and unjustifiable reasons. These crashes, deaths and heightened criminal and unlawful behavior in the words of an observer, are pointers to the end time.

Let me refresh your memory with the events of Monday, November, 13, 2023 when two messages got me pondering. It was the news of the road traffic crash that occurred on the Zaria-Kano Road which occurred at about 15-24 hours involving a Toyota Hiace bus and a truck park. The probable cause of the crash according to information received was fatigue and loss of control. Out of the 16 people involved in this crash, eleven deaths and five injuries were reported.

While I was still struggling to unravel the high index from just one crash, I received another sad news. This crash, I was informed, occurred along the Kankia-Kano Road on the same November 13, 2023.The vehicles involved were a commercial bus and a trailer. The causes of this crash were speed and loss of control. Of the 56 people involved, another eleven were said to have died in that crash.

There was yet another crash on November, 14, 2023. This time the crash occurred at Nukunya-Mararaba road, Takum in Taraba State. Like the first crash, this crash occurred at about 1500 hours and involved two vehicles; a Ford and a commercial vehicle. Nine deaths were recorded out of the fourteen people involved as well as four people who sustained various degrees of injuries. The three fatal crashes all occurred about four weeks to the heightened high risk motorized driving characterized during the EMBER month season. These crashes are pointers to what might occur if the public buy-in into our safety messages are not improved upon.

Meanwhile, do you know that a road crash is someone’s fault, your fault. Please kindly think back and reflect on that crash. It does not matter whether someone died or not, just reflect on the things you did or did not do before it happened. What was your state of mind? Did you leave home angry? Emotionally drained due to one family pressure or the pressure from your landlord or maybe from your spouse?

Was it a carryover of office politicking that comes in different shades? Did you have enough rest? How good was your health? Sound or suspect? What was the state of your vehicle? Sound or manageable-Worn out tyres, faulty brakes, malfunctioning engine or electrical systems? What was the road like? The weather? How familiar were you to that road? When was the last time you drove by that same road?

How many of the road signs do you know and did you comply with them? Do you enjoy flouting traffic rules and yet you believe nothing will happen? Are you one of the boastful ones who are quick to flaunt your extensive contacts with the high and mighty? Do you know that more than 80 percent of road traffic crashes are due to such lawlessness, pedestrian and driver negligence and ignorance which has a huge financial cost and attendant suffering?

Now, why do you think these crashes happen? Do you think they are crashes which are someone’s fault? Or accidents which are something that happens unexpectedly and is not planned in advance. Do you think it is the will of God as someone will say or the handwork of your enemy or some invisible forces? Behind every crash, is someone’s fault. I know that a lot of us would say that someone is the Government; it’s Agencies such as the Federal Road Safety Corps since we enjoy buck passing or the other road user.

Take the case of our ongoing campaigns such as overloading, use of seat belts, driving without using your mobile phone or the one on crash helmet. Each time we insist on compliance, people insist the road must be fixed first. When we talk about seat belts, what you hear is please go check speed on the highway. No one ever reflects on those deliberate errors that ultimately send someone seven feet. Whatever we think, remember that all these boil down to human error, negligence or insensitivity to the three indices that play vital roles-the environment, weather, motor vehicle.

My choice to detour is to make us appreciate the fact that while we think about the Road Marshal as a fun spoiler, that same Marshal’s concern is about our safety to stay alive. That is his first concern. That is his passion, this is why in throwing light on today’s topic, laying the foundation is paramount. That foundation is the driver who likes the boy and as a human being makes mistakes; sometimes deliberate and must always reflect on our guidance to do it right.

In doing it right, the driver remains our focus. This is because once we get it right with drivers, we will succeed in making our roads better. This is why I found it quite amusing when last week I received some interesting text urging me to discuss the issues and not dodge the focus. To be candid, when I set out to answer your numerous requests, I thought very few people were interested. I never knew that there were a hand- full of readers who were in league with others.

Now that we have laid the foundation for this piece, I hope you will bear with me and allow me to treat this my usual way. Remember, I am still waiting for responses on the numerous questions that I asked, since I told you that drivers hold the key to redressing road crashes. The next thing you must know is in handling road abuses. The Traffic Regulations, 2012 makes it explicit that only Licensed Drivers must be on the road. In Section 22(8) it shall be an offence for an unlicensed person and a person under 18years to drive a vehicle or ride a motorcycle on the highway.