The UN General Assembly mandated World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Regional Commissions to plan and host periodic UN Global Road Safety Weeks. It was First observed in 2007 with remarkable and impressive achievements.
The 6th UN Global Road Safety Week commences from Monday 17th to 23rd May 2021, and will focused on the issue of speed, which is responsible for about 30% of crashes.
The Week advocates for safer streets motoring by making 30 km/h (20 mph) speed limits the norm for cities worldwide in places where people mix with traffic. Hence, the Week is concern about policy commitments at national and local levels to deliver the 30 km/h speed limits in urban areas, and to generate local support for such low speed measures in order to create safe, healthy traffic flow within Urban cities globally as well as to officially launch the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-2030 and its Global Plan.
The Week will also highlight the links between 30 km/h speed limits and attainment of a number of Sustainable Development Goals, including those on health, education, infrastructure, sustainable cities, climate action and partnerships.
As a lead agency in Road Safety Management and administration in Nigeria, FRSC is hosting the event and embarks on nationwide advocacy to replicate this global activity in selected Nigerian Cities which the commercial city of Kano is among.
Pursuant to this, the Kano State Command of FRSC organises public education campaigns programmes to inculcate the norm of 30km/hr speed limits among Road users.
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The Public Education activity will include media charts, Road show, Visits to Hospitals and advocacy visits to stakeholders including policy makers.
I wish to call on the General Motoring Public to always adhere to the maximum legal speed limit of 30km/hr while in the City or in built up areas so as to prevent crashes, its attendant injuries and fatalities.
Kano Command of Federal Road Safety Corps further stressed the need to avoid over speeding which is considered among the critical traffic violations with high risk factor.
I want further stress that Speeding leads to increase in the degree of crash severity, possibly resulting in more fatalities or injuries.
More damage is caused to the vehicles involved at higher speeds, increasing likelihood vehicle will not be drivable after a crash.
Speeding also leads to extra fuel consumption and frequent replacement of auto parts among others.
The high risk associated with speeding mandated the Corps to introduce and enforce the installation of speed limiting devices on all commercial vehicles that flies the Nation’s Roads. This enforcement is currently on-going nationwide.
I urge vehicle owners to install this device on their vehicles to avoid being arrested and sanctioned.
Lastly to this end, i also wish to admonish that failure to comply with the speed limits both within Urban cities and on the highways will not be condoned.
Corps Commander Zubairu Mato
Sector Commander
RS 1.2 Kano State Sector Command
