Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in collaboration with Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) on Monday commenced a two-day rescue operations training for 40 volunteers drawn from communities along the major highways identified with high traffic crashes to curb loss of lives in highway crashes.
Kaduna state’s FRSC Sector Commander, Olu Mike Olagunju, who opened the training entitled “National Community Crash Care Initiative Training of Volunteers,” said it aimed at assisting accident victims by the volunteers who would be trained on first aid care before the secondary help could reach the victims.
He added that some accident victims that died would have lived if help had reached them in time.
The sector commander added that at the end of the training, each of the 40 volunteer men and women, carefully selected for the pilot phase, would be given first aid kits to carry out basic operation rescue in their various communities on highways.
He said: “FRSC initiated community post crash care whereby the first responder at accident scene may be a member of the immediate community where the crash occurs. So, we are training 40 men and women who reside in communities where accidents are frequently recorded due to volume of motorists plying such roads.
“The volunteers are to be liaison between when the accident occurs and before secondary help comes, that is when police, road safety and fire service might have been contacted. So we are commencing the training today in collaboration with Shell Petroleum.”
The roads that have been identified with high traffic crashes in Kaduna state included the Kaduna-Abuja road, Kaduna-Zaria road, Kaduna- Birnin Gwari road and Kaduna- Kachia road.
Two of the volunteers, Malam Kabir Mohammed from Ungwan-Kaji, along Kaduna -Zaria highway in Igabi local government area and Miss Naomi Musa from Katari, along Kaduna-Abuja dual carriageway in Kagarko local government area, said they were interested in the rescue operation as their own contribution to the national development and saving of lives.
The volunteers would be trained by the police, road safety, the Nigerian security and civil defence corps, fire service and the Red Cross.
