Two persons died, while nine others were injured in an accident at the Onipepeiye village end of the Abeokuta-Siun-Sagamu Expressway on Tuesday.
It involved a Toyota Picnic with number plate, KSF 957 BB, and a Nissan Serena marked, 25 OGHA, belonging to the Ogun State House of Assembly.
Our correspondent gathered that the Sango-bound Toyota Picnic was coming from Ibadan, Oyo State, through the Abeokuta area.
One of the tyres of the vehicle was reportedly punctured by a spike.
The State Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps, Adegoke Adetunji, said the driver was changing the deflated tyre, when the other vehicle crashed into it.
He said, “The driver of the Toyota Picnic was changing the faulty tyre when the driver of the Ogun State House of Assembly’s vehicle rammed into the picnic car, killing the driver and one of the passengers.”
The Sector Commander, who said 17 people were involved in the accident, added that the injured victims had been taken to the Federal Medical Centre, Abeokuta, while the two corpses were deposited in the hospital’s morgue. He said the Assembly driver had been arrested by the police.
Meanwhile, the Federal Road Safety Corps has come out to state that no fewer than 52 lives were lost in 122 road traffic crashes during the Sallah holidays.
The agency stated that 933 persons were involved in the crashes in which 425 others were injured.
The Head, Media Relations and Strategy, FRSC, Bisi Kazeem, who said this in an interview with our correspondent on Tuesday, said 520 persons were rescued alive.
Kazeem stated that 439 motorists were arraigned for 584 traffic infractions during the special Sallah operation by the FRSC, adding that 402 offenders were convicted and fined by the mobile courts.
He stated that a total of 10,109 officers and marshals were drafted to cover the FRSC special Sallah operation, adding that particular attention was paid to the Lagos – Ibadan and Abuja – Kaduna Expressways as well as the East-West Road in the South-South geopolitical zone.
He explained that the FRSC had succeeded in reducing road traffic crashes between January and August, 2016 over the figures recorded in the same period in 2015.
Kazeem said, “From January to August, 2015, a total of 5,953 crashes were recorded involving 39,119 people in which 3,233 of them died and 17,189 others were rescued alive. Comparatively, within the same period in 2016, a total of 5,707 crashes were recorded involving 38,222 people out of which 3,048 died and 17,446 others were rescued alive.
“The implications are that crashes reduced by 4.13 per cent with less than 2.3 per cent people involved and 5.7 per cent reduction in deaths with the number of people rescued increasing by about 1.48 per cent.”
Within the same comparative period, January to August, in 2015, the FRSC apprehended 339,551 offenders for 376.391 offences compared to 380,769 and 421,816 in the same respects, in 2016; thus throwing up an upsurge of 11 per cent increase in both directions.
Source: Punchng.com
