Bidemi and the FRSC Annual Lecture

Hers was not just about beauty without brains as she equally had good education where she dusted all in her class with a First class degree. Life seemed smooth and easy for her. Even after graduating and completing her compulsory National Youth Service Corps, destiny sorted her out among her peers as she didn’t have […]

Hers was not just about beauty without brains as she equally had good education where she dusted all in her class with a First class degree. Life seemed smooth and easy for her. Even after graduating and completing her compulsory National Youth Service Corps, destiny sorted her out among her peers as she didn’t have to wait for long to be engaged as a staff in a thriving and promising business outlet. Like every young girl her age, she met her dream man and got pregnant. Both agreed to live their dreams and fantasy. They met their families and set a wedding date to consummate her lifelong dream of becoming a mother and a wife.
Tragedy however struck barely few months to the set day. Bidemi, whose beauty shone the more with the pregnancy, set out on a journey in a commercial vehicle. On the journey, a crash occurred, claiming her life and that of her unborn child, leaving behind a traumatised husband-to-be. As well as traumatised families.  Bidemi was an only child whose parents had made sacrifices for, hoping for a better tomorrow. With her death, their dreams and aspirations died with her. Bidemi’s story is one of the numerous tragedies on our roads. Daily, crashes occur, killing, maiming and leaving behind traumatised loved ones, families and sometimes children with no one to care for them. Weekly the Federal Road Safety Corps, through its Dashboard review crashes that range from 60-100 or more deaths, brainstorms on new strategies to curb this trend and achieve part of its corporate strategy for 2014 which is a 15percent road traffic crash reduction and a 25percent
 fatalities reduction. One of such strategies is the Annual Lecture series introduced in 2009 which the Corps Marshal and Chief Executive during a pre- conference media briefing said provides the plank for a review of previous annual lectures, dating back to the inaugural lecture in 2009.
He revealed that the series was part of  sustained efforts  to further evoke public discourse and consciousness on road safety matters, in the desire to engender best road safety practices in the country, stressing that as a  knowledge-driven organization, the intent is to broaden the scope of the annual lecture series by raising the stakes on our advocacy for collective drive to address the scourge of road crashes which, according to the World Health Organization’s report, accounts for annual death of 1.3 million people across the globe.
With about a year to 2015 when fatalities are meant to be reduced by 50percent, the 2014 series focused on initiating an African agenda to address the developmental challenges to safer roads within the continent in the 21st century, with the theme: “Safer Roads: A 21st Century Development Challenge”, with the President of Republic of Ghana, His Excellency, John Mahama  as guest speaker. His choice was borne out of his strategic role of being at the fore front of the regional efforts in achieving a safer road culture in the sub-region.  Although he could not come in person, his Vice, Kwesi Amisa Afom who represented him did a splendid job. One of the highpoints of his presentation was when he noted that the best safety device in a vehicle is a trained driver. The driver who killed Bidemi would probably have saved her and other occupants if only he or his employers had taken the pain to properly train him. Such a training would have taught him that a
 brake applied on a speeding vehicle would result in a possible crash and loss of life .It is ironic  that despite the huge amount people spend buying and showing off with the latest machine(car), very few  also bother to properly train  their drivers in the modern driving techniques such as defensive driving techniques. Except for multinational companies, rarely do establishments regard drivers as labourers who deserve continuous training and retraining. This is the highpoint of the driving school standardization programme introduced by the Corps as part of measures to change the face of driving in the country. The programme makes it compulsory for all fresh applicants for a drivers licence to undergo compulsory training in one of the certified driving schools in the country. To give credence to this novelty which was a departure from what obtained previously, driving schools were certified and are still being certified while instructors are properly
 tutored on modern techniques. Amazingly, despite the huge risk involved in driving, which the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents in the United Kingdom describes as one of the high risk vocations, fresh drivers often attempt  the quick fix approach. In the words of the Guest speaker, increased awareness and compliance to safety rules remain the medicine for safer roads. As we reflect on the maiden edition in 2009 with His Excellency, Chief Emeka Anyaoku as the guest speaker, followed in 2010 when  the National President of the International Road Federation, Switzerland, KK Kapila was the guest speaker and the 2012 edition that had Professor Richard Tay, a Professor of Engineering and Injury Prevention at la Trobe University, Australia, as guest speaker, our  individual role  and responsibility lies in a changed driving habit that would ensure that the Bidemis of this world can live and fulfil destinies even with increased motorisation.