Four killed in Kwara auto accident

No fewer than four persons died in a motor accident in the late hours of Monday on the Omu-Aran-Oke-Onigbin Highway, in Kwara State.
The accident involved an unmarked empty truck heading toward Omu-Aran axis of the highway and an 18-seater Mazda bus marked XB 727 FGB.
An eyewitness said the passenger bus, which was fully loaded with oranges, had an head-on collision with the truck which was believed to be on top speed at about 9 pm, resulting in the death of its driver and its passenger.
The driver of the truck and his motor boy were also killed on the spot.
“The truck dragged the bus with its passengers for a few meters, before pushing it into a ditch,” said the eyewitness, who would not disclose his identity.
The accident, however, disrupted the smooth flow of traffic on the busy highway for hours on Tuesday morning as the combined team of men of the Nigeria Police Force and Federal Road Safety Commission(FRSC) made frantic efforts to remove the wreckage from the road.
Mr Festus Adetunji, the Commander of FRSC, Omu-Aran Unit Command, while confirming the incident, said three bodies were removed on Monday night from the wreckage.
He said it was during the rescue efforts, which continued on Tuesday morning, that the body of the bus driver was removed and deposited at the mortuary, alongside the other three victims.
Adetunji, who blamed the accident on over speeding and dangerous driving, cautioned motorists to always obey traffic rules and regulations to stay alive.
He said the command had on Sunday commenced its 2019 pre-mega rally sensitisation for transport stakeholders as a way of ensuring total road safety compliance.
According to him, the Unit’s 2019 ember-month campaign and rally where road users would be sensitised on safety tips and regulations, hasd been fixed for Thursday.
He said the initiative tagged, ‘Zero Tolerance to Road Crashes,” was designed to bring together the command’s personnel, road marshals and other stakeholders to strategise.
Adetunji said the measures were informed by the need to plan ahead following the expected increase in the volume of traffic, especially during the last three months of the year.
He also appealed to different categories of road users to always imbibe the command’s road safety guidelines and ensure maximum cooperation with the corps’ officers and men on patrols.
“We felt there is the need to put our house in order by coming together as critical stakeholder to interact and discuss the way forward to ensure total compliance, thereby reducing road crashes to the barest minimum.
“Almost 70 per cent of accidents on our roads are caused by human errors through over speeding and dangerous driving.
“The job of road safety regulations is a collective responsibility of the stakeholders and everyone is expected to play his or her roles diligently, effectively and efficiently,” he said.