Reduction of average speed by mere five per cent could reduce fatality of accident by 80 per cent in an event of automobile crash, Mr David Mendie, Sector Commander of Federal Road Safety Corps in Gombe, said on Sunday.

Mendie, who stated this during a Thanksgiving service at the Saint James Catholic Church, Gombe, marking the end of United Nation’s 4th Global Road Safety Week, said a credible research had proved so.

“Research has so much said that if an average speed is cut by five per cent, there is tendency for the reduction of fatality by 80 per cent whenever road crash occurs,” he said.

He said that based on the findings, the need for road users to adhere to the recommended speed limit, could not be over-emphasised.

According to him, FRSC in Gombe has intensified campaign on the need for motorists to manage speed while driving.

Mendie said the Command had embarked on motorcade rally and delivered lectures to commercial vehicle drivers on the advantages of controlling speed through the use of speed limiter device.

Also speaking at the occasion, John Keant of Saint James Catholic Church, Gombe, said drinking alcohol contributed to road accidents.

He advised the public to desist from any act capable of destroying their lives.

FRSC had earlier embarked on similar sensitization campaign in mosques on Friday.

The commemoration of the Fourth UN Global Road Safety Week started Monday, May 8, and ended Sunday, May 14.

This year’s celebration has as its theme, “Managing the speed.”

NAN