Kaduna Sector Commander of Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Francis Udoma, has identified poor parental upbringing as a major issue in the persistent violations of traffic laws and subsequent avoidable crashes on the nation’s roads.
The newly promoted sector commander, who made this known in Kaduna during FRSC 2014 youth week, added that most of the youth involved in road traffic violation were school drop-outs.
Represented by his assistant, Bitrus Kwaya, he said some of the youth were not even ready to have formal or informal education, but instead preferred to be engaging in illicit acts include drugs which would in turn, affect people around them including other road users.
He said: “Some of them do not even want to go to school. They involve themselves in drugs and negative acts and once somebody is involved in drugs before such person can be educated it take a long time because of their truancy. That is the challenges we are facing.
“But the good news is that FRSC is committed to youth enlightenment which is why we choose Distracted Driving and Youth: the Implication for Road Safety as this year’s theme. Those from the ages of 18 and 40 years are targeted for the campaign.
“We also want to express dissatisfaction against the use of ear piece and mobile phones while driving and riding on our roads because they are unnecessary things that distract attention and can lead to accident.”
He, however, used the occasion to commend some road users who adhered strictly to traffic laws, saying that “we still have commendable youths who are of great assistance to us and we want them to keep sensitising people around them so that we can collectively make our road safer.”
