Twenty children died in road accidents between December 19 and December 28 while 75 others were injured from the crashes, the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), said yesterday.
In a statement in Abuja by Mr Jonas Agwu, the FRSC’s Public Education Officer, said that 144 children of the 239 children involved in road accidents during the period were rescued unhurt.
The FRSC, on December 19, began a special patrol for the Christmas and New Year celebration, code-named: Operation Zero Tolerance.
The commission deployed 34,000 personnel and equipment in critical and major highways across the country as well as four helicopters for aerial surveillance.
The FRSC, on December 24, said 107 persons died among the 1,398 involved in 214 road accidents between December 19 and December 23.
It said the figures represented a reduction in the number of deaths and injured when compared to 156 deaths and 1,882 injured persons in 236 accidents in the corresponding period of 2012.
The statement, therefore, advised parents and drivers to ensure that children were “appropriately restrained” in vehicles during travels.
It added that those under 12 years should be restrained in the rear seats in line with the provisions of the National Road Traffic Regulations, 2012.
This, it said was necessary because air bags could injure or kill young children travelling in front seats in the event of accident.
“One of the most effective measures to protect occupants from injury in the event of a crash is the fitment and use of seat-belts and child restraints.
“Restraints save lives and reduce injury severity – all vehicle occupants should be appropriately restrained when travelling,” it said.
The statement said statistics indicate that seat belt usage reduce the risk of fatality among front seat passengers by 40 per cent to 50 per cent.
It said the use of the belt could also reduce risk of fatality for rear seat passengers by between 25 per cent and 75 per cent.
The statement said child restraints reduced deaths among infants by approximately 70 per cent and deaths among small children by between 54 per cent and 80 per cent.
It said FRSC mandated its commanding officers to intensify enforcement of traffic rules on child safety during the ongoing special patrol, which will end on January 12, 2014.
The statement directed the officers to conduct routine checks on vehicles conveying children to ensure that they are properly positioned through restraints. Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com