The Federal Road Safety Corps in Taraba State on Wednesday began the relocation of markets from the busy Jalingo-Iware highway and distribution of the corps’ customised metal traffic and safety barricades.
Corps Selina Williams, the Sector Commander, who supervised the exercise, said the initiative was part of FRSC’s concerted efforts at ensuring that highways were safe for road users by moving the markets to other locations.
According to Williams, the enforcement was aimed at eradicating all relative incidences of road traffic infractions and their attendant consequences such as traffic gridlocks and road traffic crashes, which posed major public health and socio-economic concerns in Nigeria.
She said: “To achieve this arduous task, the command synergised with the Nigeria Police Force and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps in the state as well as other grass root relevant stakeholders.
“We hope to achieve the desired results and subsequently dissuade communities from building markets close to the highways in order to curb the menace of road traffic crashes within the state.”
The News Agency of Nigeria observed that many small markets across Taraba State normally hold near the highways, thereby causing traffic gridlocks on markets days.