FRSC begins Yuletide special patrol with 36,000 Marshals

The Federal Road Safety Corps said on Tuesday that it would commence its end-of-the-year special patrol nationwide on Wednesday (today) with the deployment of 36,000 marshals to strategic roads and major traffic points.

A statement by the corps quoted the Corps Marshal of the FRSC, Dr. Boboye Oyeyemi, as ordering the deployment of the regular and special marshals to those needed areas for the special patrol operations. This came just as the corps said there had been a significant reduction in the number of road crashes and fatalities in the last three months in Lagos and Ogun states.

According to the Corps Public Education Officer, Bisi Kazeem, a total of 795 patrol cars, 204 motorcycles, 106 ambulances and 21 tow trucks will be needed for the special patrol operations. The patrol, code-named ‘Operation Zero Tolerance’ would be staged under the theme ‘Right to Life on the Highway, Not Negotiable’ would run until January 15, 2018. 

Kazeem said the operations were targeting free flow of traffic, drastic reduction in accidents, and prevention of accident-related deaths across the country, among others, during the period. He identified the operational strategies to include the establishment of 13 help areas and nine camps on accident-prone corridors to cater for accident victims. 

Other strategies, according to him, are quick response time to distress calls, 24-hour visibility along critical corridors, uninterrupted motorised patrol, day-time route lining, traffic control and deployment of 201 mobile courts. He said the corps would also activate high alert on internal and external medical facilities to intervene in case of crashes; undertake aerial surveillance and purposeful synergy with other security agencies. 

Boboye was also said to have ordered strict enforcement of traffic laws with focus on speeding, dangerous driving, use of phone while driving, overloading and passenger manifest violations, among others.


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