Eighty-seven people died while 377 others sustained varying degrees of injuries between January and June this year in Bauchi State, the Federal Road Safety Commission has said.
A copy of the FRSC Road Crash Report for the period obtained by The PUNCH in Bauchi, showed that there were 94 road crashes across the 20 local government areas of the state involving 719 people.
These included 67 children with seven of them killed while 33 sustained different degrees of injuries.
The report also showed that a total of 154 different types of vehicles were involved in the accidents.
According to the document, January recorded the highest number of deaths with 35 people killed, 61 injured in 13 cases of accidents involving 130 people.
June had the second highest number of casualties with 13 killed, 59 injured in 18 different cases of accidents involving 141 people.
The report further showed that May had the least number of casualties, when seven people killed, 57 injured in 13 auto crashes involving 94 people.
Speaking to newsmen on Tuesday in his office in Bauchi, the Sector Commander of the FRSC in the state, Ibrahim Abubakar, said the commission had made sustained efforts to reduce the number of road crashes across the state.
He said road crashes in the state had reduced significantly except along the Bauchi-Gombe and Bauchi-Jos roads.
He added, “Road crashes in Bauchi have been decreasing except on the Bauchi-Gombe and Bauchi-Jos roads. These are places with almost daily crashes.
“The major culprits in these accidents are the Opel Vectra drivers. They are responsible for almost all the head-on collision on these highways.
“Next to them are the Hummer Buses. I don’t know what is always the problem, but I think it is mostly loss of control of the drivers.”
Abubakar lamented that the FRSC had offices in only 234 local government areas out of the 774 in the country, calling on the Federal Government to urgently equip the FRSC with more staff and logistics to increase safety on Nigerian roads.
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