The Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) recorded a 500 per cent increase in the death rate along the Lagos Badagry expressway between January and June 2022, compared to the first six months in 2021.

During a retreat on Tuesday, Sulaiman Taiwo, the unit commander, Badagry Command, said the FRSC in the first half of 2022 had a record of 15 crashes, in which 113 people were involved while 26 were injured, and six died.

“Whereas between January and June 2021, we recorded eight crashes, 34 people were involved, 29 injured, with just one death.

“In the whole of 2021, we recorded 19 crashes, and the total death rate was seven.

“If one looks at the statistics, compared to what we had between January and June 2021, we have an increase of 500 per cent in death rate; this is too much,” he said.

The unit commander said that the cause of the increase was speed, using phones while driving, wrongful overtaking and lack of concentration on the road.

Mr Taiwo said that when the Lagos Badagry expressway was in bad shape, people begged the government to reconstruct it.

“Bad or good road does not produce a good driver, but the ability to maintain bad or good road makes a good driver,” he said.

However, Mr Taiwo said his command had adopted training and retraining of officers to tackle the challenges.

(NAN)