Assist road accident victims, A’Court president urges Nigerians

The President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem, on Thursday, appealed to Nigerians to always show more concern and assist accident victims in rescuing them from the cold hands of death.

Dongban-Mensem, who is a Special Road Marshal, appealed during the 13th annual conference of the Kwapda’as Road Safety Demand Foundation.

She said the campaign for road safety has been on for 13 years in memory of her son, who was killed by a hit-and-run driver.

She added that her son was left to die bleeding.
“Today makes it 13 years since we started our campaigns for road safety in Nigeria.

“We want people to remember that if today there is a road victim and they are not the ones, they could be the ones next; it could be their relatives; it could be the people that they are concerned about.

“So we expect that people should remember that fact, that nobody is beyond being knocked down since our roads are still very insecure,” she said.
She added, “We should also support initiatives like this, you know, to ensure sanity on our roads.
“And supporting, you can take action by being part of the campaign to inform people because there is a lot of ignorance, there is a lot of apathy, and people seem to be disinterested when it comes to road safety issues.”

Nigerian roads, she said, are overused because that was the only means of transportation now in Nigeria.

“When you give information when you dare to come out and go to the court and give evidence against people that you know have misused and undermined our laws, then you are participating in the administration of justice, in ensuring that our roads are safe.

“We can take personal commitment by committing to ensuring that we do not add to the road mishaps on the road, on our highways, by being properly trained; take time; don’t look for shortcuts to getting a driver’s license; ensure that you’re properly trained.

Dongban-Mensem also called for the establishment of a trauma centre where victims in need can be helped.

“We are actively involved in the fifth standard of road safety, the five pillars.
“We are particularly engaged in the victim part, which is meant to bring support to victims of road crashes,” she said.

(NAN)