As 2017 grinds to an end, the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has announced that it has stepped up activities geared towards ensuring that irresponsible drinking and misuse of the alcoholic beverages, usually on the increase during the Christmas and New Year festivities season, are considerably reduced.
Corps public education officer, Cops Commander Bisi Kazeem, disclosed this at the “Don’t Drink and Drive” campaign organised in partnership with the Nigeria Breweries Plc at Ojota, Lagos, recently.
Kazeem, who represented the Corps Marshal, Mr. Boboye Oyeyemi, listed the mix of activities such as inter-zonal patrol, intra-zonal patrol, increased sensitisation programmes (in places of worship and motor parks), enhanced enforcement on speed limiting device and servicing of its ambulances and tow trucks nationwide.
Kazeem decried the attitude of some motorists who consume alcohol and “still go ahead to use their vehicles on roads, and pose a threat to other road users.”
He dismissed the belief that frequent cases of road crashes during the ‘ember months’ was linked to spirits killing people, blaming the trend instead on “increase in human and vehicular movement.”
Kazeem described the FRSC/NB campaign, which is in its 10th edition this year, as an indication that NB was not only concerned with brewing and selling its products for profit, but also committed to saving the lives of its customers.
He said, “This campaign is, therefore, a timely reminder that drinking and driving does not only pose a threat to the life of the drunk driver, but also to the life and property of all road users (motorists, pedestrians, and even animals).”
Addressing the rally, which attracted members of transport associations, among others, the corporate affairs adviser of NB, Mr. Kufre Ekanem, explained that the yearly campaign was conceived to discourage drink-driving and enhance road safety.
Ekanem, who spoke on behalf of the managing director of NB, Mr. Johan Doyer, remarked that, “We commenced this year’s campaign with a mega rally in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. Like previous years, this year’s campaign will focus on the improvement of road safety awareness for all commercial drivers and draw attention to alcohol-related accidents.”