AT least 295 people were killed in road accidents during the first quarter of this year; a data-based survey conducted by Daily Trust has shown.
Although the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) said this figure does not tally with its statistics, it failed to avail this newspaper with the official figure.
The survey, which is based on incidents reported in major national dailies within the period in review, indicated that the accidents that occurred in 24 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) between January and March also left 315 people with various degrees of injuries.
The states where the accidents were recorded are Osun, Kwara, Kaduna, Sokoto, Niger, Bayelsa, Lagos, Kano, Oyo, FCT, Anambra, Osun, Kogi, Benue and Delta. Others are Ekiti, Ebonyi, Katsina, Plateau, Ogun, Ondo, Edo, Abia, and Taraba.
Ogun State (South West) recorded the highest number of deaths (43), followed by Kwara (North Central) with 28 reported cases.
Our correspondents report that the Kano- Kaduna-Abuja Highway; Abuja-Lokoja Highway; Lagos- Ibadan Expressway, among others, have claimed many lives.
While accidents occur in some of the roads because of their bad condition, fatalities are being recorded in some because of their good condition, which allows drivers to ignore ground rules.
Among the recorded cases was one in which two children died in an accident involving a Toyota car on New Year’s day at Ade Best axis, Isara, on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
The spokesperson for the Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, in Ogun, Mrs Florence Okpe, who confirmed the incident to journalists in Abeokuta, said the incident occurred in the early hours of the fateful day, and was caused by speeding and loss of control.
Another incident was at Aiyere community along the Bode Saadu-Ilorin route in the Moro Local Government Area of Kwara State, where no fewer than 11 people were reportedly killed while seven others sustained varying degrees of injuries in a fatal road crash that occurred on January 2, this year.
The accident, which involved a DAF truck and a Toyota Hiace bus, was attributed to wrongful overtaking and speed violation.
The Kwara State Sector Commander of Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Mr Stephen Dawulung, who confirmed the incident, said that preliminary investigations revealed that the Toyota Hiace bus, coming from Gombe en route to Lagos, wrongfully overtook another vehicle resulting in a head-on collision with the oncoming DAF truck.
In another incident that occurred at the Kateri axis of the Kaduna-Abuja Highway, security agencies had reported that 19 people died in a ghastly road traffic crash on January 3.
Samuel Aruwan, Commissioner, Ministry of Internal Security and Home Affairs in Kaduna State, said in a statement that the crash was caused by a combination of speeding, and an exploding tyre, leading to a loss of control, which caused the vehicle to veer into the bush.
Out of 53 people that were reportedly involved in the crash; sixteen died on the spot, with three others later confirmed dead.
Also 34 victims sustained injuries which ranged from bruises and cuts to dislocations and head injuries, according to reports.
Similarly, 12 people lost their lives in an auto crash that happened along the Katsina-Ala-Zaki Biam Road on February 20.
According to an eyewitness account, the accident, which happened around midnight on the fateful Tuesday was caused by over speeding on the part of the two drivers.
The eyewitness claimed that one of the drivers, who was at top speed, tried to escape a pothole and, in the process, rammed into the next vehicle, which was also at speed.
Similarly, the FRSC confirmed that 13 people were killed while two persons sustained injuries in a motor accident at the Obajana market along the Obajana-Lokoja Road in Kogi State on March 31.
Samuel Oyedeji, the FRSC Sector Commander in the state, said the auto crash involved a commercial Sharon bus and an articulated truck conveying cement, adding that the bus had stopped at the market for passengers to buy some things when the cement truck lost control and rammed into it from behind.
In another reported incident, 10 passengers were killed in an auto crash along Serti-Bali Road in Taraba State on March 11 when a bus conveying 22 passengers from Gembu to Jalingo crashed at Garbabi, close to Bali town.
The driver of the bus was said to have lost control at a sharp bend near Garbabi town, leading to the crash.
Also, the FRSC had reportedly confirmed that six persons died in an automobile crash on the Onueke axis at the Afikpo-Abakaliki Road in Ebonyi on February 4.
The Sector Commander, FRSC, in the state, Igwe Nnabuife, told reporters in Abakaliki that the accident involved 17 persons noting that six persons died, while 11 were critically injured.
According to Nnabuife, the accident, which was caused by ‘wrong overtaking’ involved three vehicles: two articulated vehicles and a commercial bus belonging to Peace Mass Transit.