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Jonathan laments
carnage on East-West road
By Emma Gbemudu
Correspondent,
Yenagoa
Bayelsa
State Acting Governor, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, has lamented the poor state of
the East-West Road, attributing it to the increasing wave of carnage on the
road.
Jonathan
has therefore appealed to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to
expedite action on the dualisation of the road, which, according to him, had
claimed many lives.
Represented
by the Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Mr. Benson Agadaga,
at the flag-off of the 2004 end-of-year road safety campaign, which was
organised by the state sector of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC),
Jonathan admitted that road accidents could be attributed to inadequate
training of motorists and bad roads, adding that head-on collision between
vehicles was the worst type of accident.
He
advised motorists and commercial motorcycle operators to exercise caution on
the road, warning that they should shun excessive speeding and drunkenness.
Jonathan
also charged the state FRSC to ensure that only qualified persons were screened
for the issuance of driving license.
Earlier,
the state FRSC Sector Commander, Mr. John Meheux, noted that 60 per cent of
road accidents were the result of human factor, poor state of vehicles and
roads.
“We
are resolved to record accident-free driving this Xmas season. The command will
continue to reach out to the commuting public,” he explained.
Meheux
said a 24-hour service has been put in place by the FRSC to save accident victims
on the road, emphasising that the use of GSM phones was banned while driving,
and advised drivers to fasten their seat belts as a safety measure.
In
his lecture, a Senior Medical Officer with the Niger Delta University, Dr.
Damilola Francis, expressed regrets that accident victims lose their lives due
to poor rescue operations.
According
to Francis, “the Nigeria Police should change its attitude towards people
who rescue accident victims on the roads.
The guest lecturer, however, argued that there was a decline
in road accidents, attributing it to the efforts of the FRSC in the state. He
also advocated the siting of ambulances in strategic locations of the state to
facilitate quick response to accident victims during the Yuletide season.
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