The Imo command of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) says it recorded 62 road traffic crashes and 43 fatalities from January to October 2024.

The sector commander of the FRSC in Imo, Anthony Uga, said this at the official kickoff of the command’s year 2024 “Ember Months” campaign in Owerri on Thursday.

The year’s ‘ember months’ campaign theme is: “Speak Up Against Dangerous Driving: Crashes Kill More Passengers Than Drivers”.

Mr Uga said that while a total of 234 persons were injured in the crashes, the most prevalent cause was overspeeding, while the most vulnerable route for the crashes was the Owerri-Aba critical corridor.

He noted that the behaviours of drivers who tend to ‘double their hustle’ to make ends meet for the Yuletide and that of road users constituted 70 per cent of menace on the roads.

He added that the campaign would raise awareness of the economic, health, mental and emotional cost of road traffic crashes and the legal and ethical implications of violating traffic rules as well as responsible loading practices and compliance with weight limits.

He called on passengers to consider road safety as a shared responsibility and to call drivers to order if they begin to overspeed or overtake carelessly.

“This ‘ember months’ campaign will, among other things, emphasise the importance of road safety for the prevention of crashes occasioned by speeding.

“We, therefore, call on passengers, in line with the year’s theme, to consider themselves more at risk and not hesitate to call erring drivers to order,” he said.

He thanked Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo “for his unwavering support of the FRSC in the execution of its mandate, which has resulted in improved safety on the roads.”

Also present at the event were the state’s commissioner for transport, Benson Agbaso, and the heads of different security agencies in the state.

(NAN)