KRSD advocates safer road usage in Nigeria

Road users in Nigeria have been advised to adhere to imbibe safety rules in their driving and respect other road users so as to reduce the rate of crashes on the nation’s highways.

In her Easter message, the Founder of a Trust Fund – Kwapda’as Road Safety Demand (KRSD), Hon. Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem urged government to be more committed to putting up structures, policies and road infrastructure that would decrease the risk and occurrences of traffic crashes by 50 percent; in line with the United Nations’ vision 2020 of reducing road traffic crashes by half.

Justice Mensem also enjoined all Nigerians to be safety conscious and comply with the safety rules whether one is behind a wheel or not.

While commending the efforts of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) and other partners on road safety for their unrelenting efforts at sensitizing, educating and mobilizing citizens on the benefits of reducing loss of lives.

The founder noted that the World Health Organisation (WHO)’s Global Road Safety Report, shows that road crashes affect about 1.25 million people annually making it the leading cause of deaths amongst young people.

She said, “Premium must be placed on ensuring the health and safety of the lives of a nation’s citizens, especially of that of the youths who constitute a greater percentage of the GDP of any society.

Thus, as part of the drive to significantly contribute to the campaigns for road safety in line with the United Nations Decade of action for Road Safety, Kwapda’as Road Safety Demand (KRSD) Trust Fund is calling on the Federal Government, corporate entities, road users and all stake-holders in the road safety sector and the general Nigerian public to intensify their commitment to improving safety and victim support on our Nigerian roads; especially during this period of increased travel due to the Easter holidays,”

Meanwhile, the Programe Director of KRSD, Angela Inusa, in a statement said, that the organisation became the only road safety NGO in Nigeria nominated to take part in a week-long Alliance Advocates Programme, organised by the Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety (the Alliance), to equip NGO leaders as road safety advocates in their own countries.

She said that the training which took place in Nairobi, Kenya, centered on a Practical Safe Schools Zone Project that had KRSD and 20 other Alliance Advocates collecting road safety data from a Kenyan based school, identifying necessary interventions, and creating an advocacy plan which was handed over to the Kenyan road safety policy-making body to draft policies and interventions.

The Advocates were mandated to replicate the project in their respective countries as a means of saving children’s lives by bridging roads around schools up to the minimum standard recommended by the global road safety community.