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Anambra Records More Road Accidents’

By Chukwujekwu Ilozue , Reporter, Onitsha



[b]Statistics from the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Anambra State command, has shown that there were more road accidents in the state in the first half of this year than last year.

Though the sector Commander, Mr. Ayobami Omiyale, said the entire accident figure for 2009 was not ready, he said that figures in respect of the first half of the year showed an increase in accident cases than last year.

Omiyala said that last year, 168 cars, 168 buses, 110 lorries and 218 motorcycles were involved in 431 crashes. From these accidents, he said, 409 people were injured while 138 persons were killed.

In the first half of this year, he said, 87 cars, 88 buses, 122 motorcycles and 58 lorries were involved in 217 crashes in which 169 persons were injured and 104 people killed.

He said that the Umunya section of the Enugu-Onitsha expressway where 10 vehicles were involved in road accident in which 14 people died last October 10 has remained a death trap.

According to him, just last week another petrol tanker loaded with petrol fell there. The only difference is that this time help came quickly. The driver of the vehicle was not wounded and so he got out and locked the manifold and only little quantity of fuel licked until the next morning when another tanker came for assistance.

Similarly, on Tuesday night another lorry and a passenger bus crashed at the area though not exactly where the inferno occurred but there was no loss of life, he said.

Omiyale advised motorists who journey through Anambra roads to travel patiently and go at slow speed, maintain the speed limit because the entire Federal road, according to him, is a construction area. He described the Federal Highway in Anambra as prone to accident because of how bad they have turned.

‘‘The roads as we have them today in Anambra State are far from safe, but I think the state government is carrying out some palliative measures to ensure that people coming in and passing the state do not only have a safe trip but a smooth drive,” he said.
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http://www.independentngonline.com/DailyIndependent/Article.aspx?id=4837