A total of 211 persons perished in road traffic crashes in Kwara State between January to October 2022, DAILY POST reports.

Statistics made available by the Sector Commander in the State, Frederick Ogidan, showed that 3,155 road traffic crashes occurred in the State during the period under review.

According to Ogidan, 1,679 males were injured in the total crashes.

Similarly, a total of 299 female victims were also injured in the crashes.

He put the figure of children involved in the crashes at 99.

The Sector Commander, had at various engagements with a cross section of the public and stakeholders, emphasized the need for motorists in the State to be safety conscious.

Reacting to the statistics, Ogidan said there had been a reduction in road traffic crashes in Kwara State since he assumed duty on May 1st, 2022.

He explained that this was achieved through aggressive public enlightenment programmes on the television and radio, advocacy visits to motor parks and stakeholders’ engagement and submission of road audits to concerned government agencies to enable them repair failed portions of the roads.

“We also introduced red flag alerts at expressways to caution road users to cut their speed before they are cut down, and intensified mobile courts to check erring motorists in conjunction with the judiciary and the Kwara State Internal Revenue Service, KWIRS,” he added.

At this year’s launch of the ember months campaign recently in Ilorin, the State capital, Ogidan cautioned motorists against excessive speeding, overloading and use of unsafe tyres.

He also advised motorists, particularly commercial drivers, to obey road traffic rules and regulations in the drive by the road safety corps to reduce the carnages on the highways.

The Sector Commander, who expressed concern over the carnages on the highways, asserted that most crashes were avoidable if rules and regulations were obeyed religiously.