Borno - Seventy one persons died in 116 auto road crashes in Borno in 2012, the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) has said.
Borno FRSC Sector Commander, Malam Abba Bazza, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Maiduguri on Monday.
He added that 433 persons were injured in the accidents that involved 144 vehicles during the period under review.
The commander also said that 689 road traffic offenders were apprehended by the commission in the same period.
He attributed road accidents in the area to impatience by drivers who formed the habit of overtaking on highways at high speed and without precaution.
``This development, in many cases, results in road accidents on our roads,'' he observed.
Bazza also traced many of the crashes to bad roads as well as overloading, especially by commercial drivers.
``Most times, commercial drivers overload their vehicles; this usually results in road accidents. When this happens, such drivers, in many cases, loose control of the steering easily.
``Some of them even take drugs or alcohol before driving,'' he said.
Bazza, however, expressed confidence that with enlightenment campaign embarked by FRSC to sensitise motorists on safe driving, road accidents would reduce drastically in the state.
``We distributed about 5,000 copies of the FRSC safe driving flyers to sensitise
motorists on safe driving.
"We are hoping that this and other sensitisation campaigns will help reduce road accidents drastically this year.”
Bazza denied the report that officers of the command had abandoned their duty posts due to the current security challenges in the state.
He, however, appealed to the Federal Government to help in the repair of numerous highways in the state, to prevent road accidents.
NAN