17th January, 2016
Mr Ikechukwu Igwe, the Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) in Cross River, said on Sunday that road accidents reduced by 70 per cent during the Christmas period in the state.
Igwe disclosed this in Calabar at a dinner party organised to celebrate the successes the Commission recorded in the last quarter of 2015.
The sector commander attributed the reduction in the accident rates to the special patrol organised by the command from mid-Dec. 2015 to Jan. 13, 2016.
According to him, only four persons died in the road crashes recorded during the period under review as two of the deceased were knocked down by a moving vehicle.
He explained that one of the victims was hit by a commercial motorcycle, while the other died in car crash.
“We started our special patrol in mid-December and ended it on Jan. 13.
`We are celebrating the success recorded by the patrol teams because we have every reason to give praises to God.
“When I came in July 2015, the rate of road accidents was horrible. On November 19, 2015, we held a mega rally and we prayed God to help us and intervene to reduce road accidents.
“From December to date, we have recorded 70 per cent reduction in road accidents when compared to the same period in 2014,’’ he said.
The sector commander had at the beginning of last week, visited the Pope John-Paul Good Samaritan Home for the aged in Calabar, where he donated food items and other essential commodities worth thousands of naira.
Igwe also led officers and men of the command on a visit to accident victims at the General Hospital in Calabar, where an undisclosed amount of money was donated to some of the patients.
The sector commander expressed optimism that 2016 would be better in the control and management of road traffic as their target was to record zero crash.