The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has commenced investigations into the two ghastly motor accidents that claimed about 29 lives and left many others injured within seven days in Nassarawa state.
Mr Ismailia Kugu, Sector Commander of FRSC in Nasarawa state made this disclosure while addressing news men on Wednesday in Akwanga Local Government Area of the state.
Kagu had earlier led a team of FRSC officials from Nasarawa and Plateau states to locations of the accidents on the Akwanga/Nasarawa-Eggon/Lafia federal highway,
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the first accident involving three vehicles and a motorcycle, took place at a location popularly called ‘Many have gone’ in Wowyen village, on the outskirts of Akwanga on Sept. 9.
The accident claimed 11 lives with some others suffering various degrees of injuries.
Then on Sept. 15, another accident involving three vehicles occurred on the same highway, at Angwan Chiyawa community in Nasarawa-Eggon Local Government Area, killing 18 and leaving some others injured.
“Our Corps Marshal directed that we should do thorough investigations on the two accidents and we are on it. We just came back from the field to do some administrative work and we will go back again.
“When we finish, I will take what we were able to find out to our management to discuss how best to prevent such accidents in future,” he said.
Kugu itemised some of the dangerous flash points of the highway to include Gako hills, Angwan Chiyawa and the ‘Many have gone’ slope among others.
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“The road is narrow. There are hills, bends and curves. There are also potholes. Also there are no shoulders on both sides of the road, coupled with impatience of drivers.
“Other factors include; lack of maintenance of vehicles and recklessness, because some of the drivers are in a hurry,” he said.
He urged commuters, especially commercial drivers, to exercise caution while plying the route because of its narrow and rough nature.
Kugu also expressed the need for vehicle owners to give more attention to the maintenance of their vehicles, especially trucks, in order to avert accidents.
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“We lost so many lives within seven days on one road alone. Its not what we want.
“We want to stop it. So what we have decided is to station our men before the flash points, so that before drivers reach those places, our men would have already calmed them.
“I don’t want to preempt what steps we are going to take but traffic calming, is definitely one of them,” he said.
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