ROAD accidents in the country declined by 25 per cent during the just concluded Eid-el-Kabir celebration, according to the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC).

The Commission said this in a statement issued on Wednesday, July 5, by the Corps Public Education Officer, Bisi Kazeem.

The FRSC attributed this reduction to what it described as it’s revamped operational tactics.

“In line with its rejigged operational tactics towards creating a safer motoring environment in Nigeria, the Federal Road Safety Corps has successfully recorded a 25% reduction in the total number of Road Traffic Crashes, a 53% decrease in people killed, and a 43% reduction in a number of people injured in crashes that involved 522 people on Nigerian roads during the 2023 Eid-El Kabir special patrol operations that held from June 26 to July 1, 2023.”

However, Nigeria has been infamous for having one of world’s highest road accident death rates. Nigeria tops the list of countries with the most fatalities from traffic crashes, according to a 2014 report by the Global Road Safety Facility (GRSF).

Nigeria also has the highest road injury death rate (52.4 per 100,000 people) of any country in the world.

In past years, road crashes in Nigeria have been consistently high. According to an ICIR report, Nigeria recorded 13,656 crashes in 2022.

Speaking on road crashes in the country, Kazeem said the “huge record of reduction in road traffic crashes during the 2023 celebration period came as a result of improved and rejigged patrol operations, robust Public enlightenment campaign, injection of more operational vehicles for enhanced visibility, prompt rescue services, enhanced stakeholder collaboration, wider coverage of the national road network due to the establishment of more FRSC Commands, Outposts roadside clinics and Zebra points, among others”.

He noted that the Corps Marshal, Dauda Biu, had pledged that the Commission would sustain the tempo and enhance its effort towards entrenching safety on all roads.

He said 88 persons were killed in crashes in 2022 against the 38 recorded in 2023, while 373 were injured in 2022 as against the 211 recorded in 2023.

“The Corps also rescued a total of 273 victims without injuries in 2023 against 347 in the same period in the year 2022. More so, 4,116 offenders were apprehended over 4,682 offences committed across 2,053 routes covered by the Corps,” he added.