The Federal Road Safety Corps(FRSC) said on Thursday that 262 persons died in different road crashes between January and August in Ogun.

Mr Clement Oladele, Ogun FRSC Sector Commander,  gave the figure in Abeokuta during the third quarter retreat  of the the Sector Command.

The News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) reports that the theme of the programme was “Road Audit And Crash Investigation: A Panacea For Traffic Compliance in Ogun State.”

Oladele decried the  high cases of road crashes in the state,  saying that more than 1,434 people were injured in the 530 crashes recorded in the same period.

He said violation of traffic rules by drivers was a major cause of the problem, adding that road construction and rehabilitation areas were major points of most crashes.

The Sector Commander, however ,said the corps was committed to drastic reduction of road crashes in the state with a view to saving lives.

“We are concerned about the problem, we noticed that most of the deaths recorded happened at construction zones.

“Because of the increase in road accidents, we are now looking at crash investigation,  that is,  for every crash there must be a reason behind it.

”We will investigate and look at the reasons behind it ,then we wait to see how we can prevent it from happening again.

“What we want to tell members of the public is that whenever there is an accident, they should quickly inform our men for immediate response and co-operate with with them to avoid traffic,” he said.

Also speaking ,the Zonal Commanding Officer of the Corps, Mr Samuel Obayemi , regretted the ”alarming ”increase in road crashes along the South-West corridor.

“The increase in crashes along our corridor is becoming so alarming and worrisome and there is need to come together to brainstorm on how we can reduce it, particularly the crashes that normally  occur on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

” We have deployed enough men to control traffic on the road to reduce crashes but what we are getting from members of the public is not encouraging,” he said.

He urged motorists to always obey traffic rules and regulations to minimise cases of road accidents