540 die, 3, 383 sustain injuries in road crashes in Jan. – FRSC

A total of 540 persons died, while 3, 383 others were injured in 950 road traffic crashes across the country in January, the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has reported.

A total of 7, 827 persons were involved in the various accidents, the corps disclosed in its monthly road traffic crash report signed by the Corps Marshal, Boboye Oyeyemi and made public in Abuja on Friday.

Oyeyemi said the figures indicated a decrease of 21 per cent in fatality rates, which shows a 14 per cent decrease in crash cases and 14 per cent decrease in the number of people injured in the month under review as compared to December 2018.

“A comparative analysis of January crash statistics with that of the corresponding month in 2018 revealed a general increase across all parameters,” the report stated.

According to the report, the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway recorded the highest number of road crashes with 57 cases representing 11 per cent decrease from December 2018.

The Abuja-Lokoja and Kaduna-Abuja roads followed with 54 and 51 cases, just as analysis based on states revealed that Kaduna recorded the highest number of crashes with 95 cases.

The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) followed with 83 cases, Ogun with 64 cases while Nasarawa and Oyo states recorded 58 and 46 cases. On the other hand, the corps marshal said, Kaduna recorded the highest number of fatality cases with 53 deaths representing 48 per cent decrease as compared to December 2018.

“Bauchi and Ogun followed in order of magnitude with 44 deaths each while Kano and Oyo had 35 and 29 cases,” Boboye added.

Furthermore, the report indicated that speed violation accounted for high causes of crashes with 502 cases representing 49.4 per cent of the total causative factors.