The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has cautioned drivers plying highways to always obey traffic rules and prioritize the lives of passengers.
The corps, which spoke against the backdrop of the weekend’s loss of 22 lives to an auto crash in Darazo Local Council of Bauchi State, noted: “Eighty percent of road accidents are caused by human errors and negligence, 10 percent by machine (motor) errors, while 10 percent are by road factors.”
The Bauchi Sector Commander of the corps, AbdulRasak Najume, told The Guardian that the accident, which occurred at 8:00 p.m., involved a Toyota Hiace and a Vectra car “when one of the drivers was making a dangerous overtaking. The incident, however, claimed the lives of all the travelers in both vehicles.”
The FRSC chief added: “Some drivers are not qualified to drive at night – because some of them are having sight problems – and they engage in a dangerous overtaking.
“Also, we have continued intensifying efforts in making sure that inter-state drivers install speed the limiter device.”
Besides, the Police Public Relations Officer for the state command, DSP Kamal Abubakar, confirmed the incident saying: “The incident happened on Friday night around 9.30p.m. It was a head-on collision between a J5 bus and an 18-seater Hummer bus.
“The J5 (which) was coming from Potiskum and heading towards Bauchi, was carrying goats while the Hummer bus was from Bauchi. They had a head-on collision which resulted in a fire and 20 people were burnt beyond recognition.”
He, however, said: “Nineteen corpses were recognised by family members through the manifest in which they wrote their details at the motor park.”
The spokesman added that a mass burial was held for the deceased on Saturday.
