Dauda Ali-Biu, the corps marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), has said that road traffic crashes (RTCs) were not caused by spiritual manipulations or any other form of evil spirits.

“The crashes are caused by physical errors; there’s nothing spiritual about them,” Mr Ali-Biu said at the flag-off of the 2024 Sallah mega motor park rally on Saturday in Abuja.

He said the rally had become particularly imperative in view of the envisioned increase in vehicular and human movement across the country as the festive period gathers momentum.

The FRSC boss was represented by Shehu Zaki, the FRSC deputy corps marshal (DCM) in charge of operations.

He said the corps was working assiduously to ensure a significant shift in the attitude of motorists in the year 2024.

“Nigerians must be aware that frequent cases of road crashes on our roads cannot be linked to any spirit killing people.

“There is an increase in human and vehicular movement, bad driving, and impatience. These are the major causes,” he said.

Mr Ali-Biu said drinking and driving, overloading of vehicles, worn-out tyres, overloading, lane indiscipline, speeding, and wrongful overtaking, among others, pose a threat to the life of the driver, passengers and property.

“Such bad driving behaviours also hurt road infrastructure, which costs a lot of taxpayers’ resources to build.

“As part of efforts to deal with these challenges, the corps came up with the idea of taking the message of safety down to all of us at the motor parks early, in view of the critical role union officials play on the roads.

“This also serves as a prelude to the massive deployment of personnel and logistics to the highways, particularly at the black spots, to contain the perennial traffic gridlock and the accompanying hazards,” he said.

(NAN)