The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Lagos Sector Command says over 15 per cent of Road Traffic Crashes (RTC) recorded in Lagos State in 2024 were due to distractions.
The State Sector Commander, Kehinde Hamzat, disclosed this at the 2025 Ember Months Public Enlightenment and Sensitisation Campaign held on Thursday in Lagos.
The sensitisation campaign in collaboration with Guinness Nigeria Ltd., had the theme, ‘Take Responsibility for your Safety – Stop Distracted Driving’.
Hamzat listed some of the distractions prevalent in the year despite existing laws and continuous censorship to include mobile phone use while driving and gaming.
“Today’s events, therefore, is a call to action, a call to every driver, commuter, pedestrian, police operators, and enforcement agencies to take personal responsibility for safety.
“Road safety is not the sole duty of the federal system, or law enforcement entity, it is a shared responsibility,” he said.
He pointed out that what FRSC was actually looking for was hinged on the five pillars of the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety, even when a crash happens, it would result in zero fatality.
“Some of the pillars, government have a role to play, drivers, and even pedestrians.
“Road safety management is one of the pillars, in this situation legislation should be in place and one that will establish a traffic agency.
“Second is safer roads plus mobility, this ensures the kind of road built takes care of the motorist, pedestrian, as Lagos State is trying to do so in some of their roads.
“The third is safer vehicles, and the fourth is the safer road users, which has to do with how knowledgeable one was as a road user, a driver, pedestrian,” he said.
Hamzat said putting all these precautions in place, there was the need to put a post crash care to ensure that people are close to medical facilities, so that when there was a crash, the golden hour must be reflected.
The Zonal Commanding Officer, FRSC comprising Lagos and Ogun States, Assistant Corps Marshal Ann Oladayo, said FRSC always embarked on Ember months campaign to bring safety consciousness to the public.
Oladayo, represented by Corps Commander Anthony Daudu, noted that during this period, people tend to rush, trying to conclude activities, landmark projects that they had embarked on.
He added that in trying to put all these complex things together and in haste, most times confusion arose and this leads to accidents.
“In this period, FRSC is ensuring that the public knows what they are doing, the issue of patience, doing things right and taking things easy is of essence.
“Doing things on the bottomline of drunkenness is dangerous and not acceptable, take things easy, life has no duplicate,” she said.
Earlier, Mr Rotimi Odusola, Corporate Relations Director, Guinness Nigeria Plc., noted that the organisation had consistently advocated that their consumers and the general public take responsibility for their safety by not drinking while driving.
According to Odusola, combining alcohol with driving is a form of distraction, it is indeed a criminal offence.
“Any form of distraction is a recipe for disaster, so we encourage everyone to avoid such while driving, if you choose to drink, do not drive,” he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the sensitisation campaign had in attendance Special Marshals, National Union of Road Traffic Workers, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, National Emergency Management Agency, Lagos office.
Also in attendance are chiefs from Ojodu land and Isheri Kingdom, Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, Nigerian Police, Truck and Cargo Operators.
(NAN)
