By Sule ALIYU, Bauchi
No fewer than 88 people have been killed in various road accidents across Bauchi State between January 2017 and May 2017.
Statistics of the of the Road Traffic Crashes obtained by our Correspondent from the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Bauchi Sector Command, on Friday indicated that 572 other people were injured during the period.
According to the report, 1,364 people were involved in the 138 road traffic crashes that occurred within the 5 months under review.
Of this number, 24 of the accidents were fatal, 79 serious while 23 were minor.
The report also indicated that 252 different brands of vehicles, both commercial and private, were involved in the accidents.
Speaking in an interview with National Trail, the FRSC Sector Commander, Bauchi State, Abdulrazak Najume, lamented the increase in accidents in the State which he attributed to overspending and the ongoing construction work within and outside the metropolis.
He also attributed to increase in the accidents to the recent removal of the speed bumps by the state government within the State capital stating that drivers now drive recklessly.
Najume said: “the level of recklessness is causing a lot of concern which end up in accidents here and there, both on the major highways and within the town.
“If you’re in Bauchi, you’ll notice that there’s hardly a day that passes by without we (FRSC) going out for the rescue of accident victims, despite our everyday campaigns in the roads, but people are still ignorant.
“Again, the removal of the speed bumps in the State by the government, is causing accidents at an alarming rate because drivers are speeding too much these days. Because of the removal, accidents have increased by a small percentage. These bumps used to help reduce accidents but now they have been removed.”
The FRSC boss who lamented the accidents caused by construction companies currently operating in the State said “we’re talking with them (construction companies) because they’re causing a lot of concerns within the State.”
He said that there was a day “I spent over 2 hours controlling traffic personally at the Central Market Round About where construction work is ongoing.
“If you see how people have been coming to thank us for what we are doing because they have been suffering in silence. These companies are just looking for money; they don’t care about motorists, everyday accident, and everyday accident because they’re no adequate construction signs. They’re causing a lot of accidents in the town” he lamented.
Najume advised drivers to be careful while driving on the roads especially during this rainy season because the roads are slippery, he concluded.
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