The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), has organised a free medical outreach as well as sensitisation on safe driving for commercial vehicle drivers in Rivers State.
FRSC Sector Commander in the state, Christopher Kuje, told newsmen after the exercise that held at the Waterlines Park in Port Harcourt, that the Corps decided to hold the programme at the park to enable it talk to both drivers and passengers.
Kuje described passengers as FRSC ambassadors, who should assist the agency in checking the activities and behaviour of drivers while traveling on the highway.
He stated that the agency decided to add free medical programme to the exercise, so that drivers would know their blood pressure as well sugar level and to know if they are fit to travel on the highway.
“We, in Rivers State believe in changing and transforming the driving habit of drivers on the highway, and one of the ways is through sensitisation and creation of awareness.
“We decided to take the bold initiative of going to the parks; that is ‘operation meet them at the loading point’. So that we can talk to the driver, talk to the passengers, so that at the end of the day, wherever they are going, they will end well.
“To make it a robust kind of programme, we did not just go there to create awareness by just talking to them, but, we went ahead to ensure that we carried our medical team along. We carried out medical outreach and conducted tests especially on blood pressure and sugar level.
“From the records, all those people, in fact there is one driver that we tested and his BP was over 200. He had to be rushed down to the hospital immediately. That case in particular, if actually we were not there and that person is driving, only God knows what is going to happen on the road. That is one of the advantages.
“We also talked to the passengers we saw to let them know that they are the ambassadors of Road Safety, and as ambassadors, they have a role to play.
“They have the role of letting the driver behave well when on the highway, starting even from the park, whether the tyres are good, know at least from the outside whether the driver looks fit to drive them. All these things are geared towards making sure that we have zero crash this period,” Kuje said.