LAGOS, JULY 1, 2016 – The Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) says it will collaborate with the Lagos State Government to set up an inter-agency committee on the safety of school children on the roads.
Mr Hyginus Omeje, the Lagos State Sector Commander of the FRSC, made the disclosure on Friday at a stakeholders’ forum in Lagos.
The event, organised by the FRSC was aimed at assessing the implementation level of Road Safety Education in schools.
In attendance were representatives of the Lagos State Safety Commission (LASSC) and the Lagos State Office of Education Quality Assurance.
Omeje said: “Safety on our roads and schools is a major issue that we must tackle from our schools; no agency can do it alone.
“As a lead agency, we are going to work in collaboration with other agencies to save our children from road and school injuries’’.
According to him, 186,300 children die yearly in road traffic crashes around the world, adding that road traffic injury was a major cause of death for all children world over.
The FRSC boss urged parents and school authorities to protect the lives of children by obeying safety rules and regulations on the roads as well as in schools.
He advised that drivers of school buses needed to be monitored to ensure they conformed to safety precautions.
“If seat belt is not important, the manufacturers of vehicles would not have incurred the cost of it; many parents do not have child seat.
“If we don’t do what we need to do now — catching these children young — the road fatality will be worse in the next generation.
“So, we must start now to build a new driving culture in the country because road traffic crashes have done us so much harm.
“We must, in early age, start inculcating in our children causes, antidotes and consequence of road traffic accident,’’ he said.
“When we indulge in certain unsafe activities behind the wheels, it is because people don’t know the consequence of their actions.
“We must teach our children the importance of road safety education’’.
Omeje added that the FRSC was committed to impacting skills necessary to avert road traffic crashes through its Youth Safety Education (YSE) in schools.
He said that each of the 16 commands in the commission had YSE officers who visit schools to improve safety education among children.
Contributing, Mr Fouad Oki, Director-General of LASSC, advocated for the reintroduction of safety education in both public and private schools.
“We seem to forget our future and our tomorrow who are our children; the cheapest thing in life is safety and the costliest is injury.
“We demand the recommencement of safety education in our public and private schools starting from September 2016 when schools resume.
“We are at the verge of concluding the safety education curriculum and ready to lay the draft for stakeholders’ considerations; we will include the teaching of first aids.’’
He, however, frowned at the motorists’ disobedience of road signs and safety rules, saying that “pedestrians are the king of the road and should be respected’’.
Oki also urged the education quality assurance bureau to create youth safety clubs in schools to increase the knowledge of school children on safety.
Mrs Ronke Soyombo, Director-General, Office of the Education Quality Assurance, said that many school proprietors were not safety conscious.
“We are talking about the safety of our children in schools, so safety in every aspect cannot be over emphasised.
“Most accident happen because of ignorance and carelessness; so care, safety and standard must be one our cardinal pillars.
“How save is the vehicle tyres of school buses; do the proprietors of schools take time to monitor drivers of school buses; who is driving our children?
“When last did we check the drivers employed? Some drivers do not have drivers licence,’’ Soyombo said.
She also frowned at overcrowding of children in school buses in spite of having paid for a space.
She therefore, commended the FRSC for its dedication and assured the commission of the state government’s support.
“Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode is committed to safety of children and safety education should be part of curriculum in school,’’ she added.
