FRSC, Greenlight, others, seek inclusion of road safety principles in school curriculum

The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Greenlight Initiative and other stakeholders, have called for the inculcation of basic principles of road safety into the school curriculum to reduce the number of road accidents.

They made this call weekend while addressing stakeholders, agencies and organisations at the FRSC headquarters in Abuja.

Speaking, FRSC Corps Commander Head, Planning and Advisory Unit, Joshua Asaolu, disclosed that FRSC has started working with educational institutions at all levels to incorporate basic principles of road safety into the school curriculum in an effort to reduce the number of people who die in traffic accidents.

He noted that the body has also taken steps to increase young people’s participation in road safety activities as another effort to significantly reduce the number of fatalities in traffic crashes.

He said: “We know most children once they have an understanding of something these days they are bold enough to tell their parents. So, FRSC started by bringing in road safety to the curriculum of children.

This is taken from the secondary school level and to the universities when they graduate, then also the road safety club now the NYSC road safety club. During their CDS also, we bring them together not only to understand what road safety is all about but to also make them participate during their CDs on projects that will bring awareness to the public on road safety matters”, He said.

Also, Executive Director GreenLight Initiative (GLI), Simon Patrick Obi, on his part said that based on facts road traffic fatalities are the number one leading cause of death among young people globally.

He stated that it was in this background that his initiative find it incumbent that key stakeholders in the transportation sector find ways to ensure that there was meaningful youth involvement in road safety since they have a huge role to play in protecting themselves and other road users.

Speaking on he noted that the global youth coalition had already launched a policymaker tools kit that will bridge the gaps that limit meaningful Youth participation in road safety.

According to him, the tool kit is targeted at equipping government agencies and stakeholders with the skills and knowledge necessary to handle all sorts of emergencies, thereby enhancing the chances of survival of road crash victims and ultimately limiting road crashes significantly.

Technical officer for non-communicable diseases at the World Health Organization, Dr Mary Dewan, said in her capacity as a representative of the organization that the UN has gathered data from previous incidents and road accidents to better its programs.

She continued by saying that the WHO had already begun planning to gather staff from all regional offices and the headquarters to provide an updated UN action plan on road safety in the coming year.

She said, “Whenever we have opportunities to interact with the government or member states, we bring the issue of road safety as the number one killer among children and youth at the forefront to ensure Member States put in the necessary strategies in place to prevent this.

“The second is the meaningful engagement of youth. So now you have for example, in 2020, there was the global meeting where it was basically youth-driven, and it was very successful, and also talking now about inclusivity and diversity all age groups should be involved, especially as mostly affected”, She said.