In the absence of a driving school in the region, the NRSC has taken it upon itself to offer a free training course on traffic safety to individuals who own vehicles in the region.

And with about 700 people who “humbly” availed themselves of the training opportunity and have been taken through the exercise so far, the NRSC believes the training contributed to the drop the region attained with 29 deaths recorded in the last 6 months as compared to the 32 lives lost in 83 crashes within the same period in 2016.

“Almost every week, people are trained. And that is aside the arrangement the DVLA (Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority) had with the National Road Safety Commission. So far, we have trained close to 700 people since we started the exercise last year. The government has given a very good policy. You don’t need to go and write tests. Just come for training and the commission and the DVLA would be satisfied that you know what you are about- then, you’ll go for your licence,” Mr. Yeribu said.

He also revealed some secrets about the crash helmet which a majority of the public probably did not know.

“Sometimes, people don’t know that when you come for the training for instance we present to you about 22 other factors aside death which result when you don’t wear your crash helmet. We have testimonies of people and we show it to them. Alzheimer’s disease and all these things are part. Sometimes you hit your head and you can get paralysis of the facial muscles. And you can’t do anything about it. Sometimes, it would end up in stroke.

“The condition of many of the mentally people we see around is not as a result of hard drugs or spiritual curses. Some are as a result of road crashes. They hit their heads hard on asphalt and they are not normal again. We have practical testimonies in the region. We tell them how to identify good helmets. Some people do not know that helmets expire after 5 years of non-use, because the internal structures, the adhesives and things which are holding the helmet together, are not really working well after 5 years,” the Regional Planner disclosed.