Further to its consolidation process, the Federal Road Safety Corps has appointed Corps Commander Imoh Etuk as the new Corps Public Education Officer, to replace Corps Commander Stella Uchegbu, who is now Sector Commander of Abia State Sector Command.
Until his new assignment, Etuk Imoh, who is a seasoned and thoroughbred officer, was the Delta State Sector Commander and had served the Corps in various capacities at the National headquarters and other formations of the FRSC.
The new spokesman who hails from Akwa Ibom state, holds a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Social Sciences from the University of Lagos in 1983 and has distinguished himself in various capacities of service to the Corps.
He was the pioneer Unit Commander for Ido-Ekiti and the Wharf Unit Commands and also Head of Operations at the Rivers and Ogun State Sector Commands between 1998 and 2000 respectively.
Corps Commander Etuk was also Zonal Head of Policy, Research and Statistics at Ilorin Zonal Command and Zonal Head of Operations in Lagos Zonal Command Headquarters before proceeding to National Headquarters as Head of Sports Section under the Training, Standards and Certification Department in 2010.
In 2012, he was moved to the Osun State Sector Command as Sector Commander before proceeding to Delta State as Sector Commander in December 2013 before his recent appointment as the Corps Public Education Officer.
In his first meeting with staff of the Corps Public Education Office, Etuk expressed the FRSC management’s concern on the need for improved public advocacy during this year’s yuletide, in its desire to reduce the spate of avoidable road traffic crashes usually associated with the season and implored road uses to ensure strict compliance with all traffic rules and regulations in order to enthrone safer road use on the nation’s highways.
Identifying the dominance of speed limit violation among road users in comparison with other causes of road crashes and reminded his colleagues of the need to raise the bar on the Corps’ sustained efforts to reverse the trend, adding that the FRSC has commenced nationwide awareness programme after a recent endorsement by relevant stakeholders for robust advocacy to be undertaken on the speed limiters, adding that full enforcement will commence nationwide from 1st June 2015 having obtained the recommended standards for the device from the Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON).
Speaking further, the Corps Commander noted that “it is an attitudinal issue as the federal government’s drive towards motorable roads has witnessed rehabilitation of major corridors of the highways.
Unfortunately, people tend to disregard traffic laws bordering on speed limits and accelerate beyond recommended speed thus resulting to avoidable road crashes. If you notice, FCT ranks high among other states in terms of road network and traffic engineering and still maintains the highest on road crashes thus linking this trend to the attitude of motorists even in the face of numerous strategies put in place by the Corps to engender sound road culture in the FCT”
He also advised road users to note that “our findings indicate that when a vehicle is accelerating at 100km/hr, it also moves at 28 metres per second. You can imagine what will happen when the same vehicle moves above the recommended speed limit”
However, Etuk advised the motoring public to note that common sense should dictate lower speed limits “common sense speed limit applies when a driver reacts to weather or road condition by reducing the pace of his acceleration in order to avert a road crash” she added.
He also reiterated the FRSC commitment to the UN decade of action on road safety which focuses on 50% reduction in road crashes and fatalities.
According to him, the UN decade of action formed part of the Corps’ 2014 strategic goal of reducing road crashes by 15% and fatalities by 25% before the end of 2014, which requires the collaboration of every road user through strict compliance with traffic rules and regulations.
