The corps marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps, (FRSC) Boboye Oyeyemi, on Monday, March 7 released an interim report on the fatal auto crash that killed the minister of state for labour, James Ocholi, and his wife and son.
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Oyeyemi who presented the accident’s road traffic crash investigation interim report to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday, March 9, at the meeting of the body at the presidential villa, Abuja, highlighted a combination of errors that resulted in the crash that killed the minister and some members of his family on Sunday, March 6.
Some of the factors that caused the fatal crash according to the report released by the FRSC include:
1. Over speeding: The FRSC attributed the main cause of the accident that claimed the life James Ocholi and his wife and son to over speeding.
The FRSC said the driver of the minister was driving too fast and when the Lexus LX570 the minister was travelling in suffered a tyre burst, the driver slammed on his brakes hard and this caused the car to somersault several times, causing death to the minister and his family.
The driver of the crashed vehicle was moving in excess of the stipulated speed when the tyre burst occurred which resulted in the fatal crash.
2. Under-inflated tire: The investigation by the FRSC showed also that the minister’s vehicle’s rear left tyre was under-inflated. This was made known by the driver of the backup vehicle which was accompanying the minister. This was likely to be the reason for the tyre burst.
3. Lack of radio communication between drivers: The unfortunate crash might have been avoided had there been a form of radio communication between the driver and the driver of the backup vehicle which was accompanying the minister.
The driver of the backup vehicle had noticed that the minister’s vehicle’s rear left tyre was under-inflated, but the non-availability of radio communication deprived him of access to the minister’s driver.
4. The tyres of the minister’s SUV were wrongly fixed: Another crucial finding in the investigation showed that the Dunlop tyres of the SUV were not expired but were wrongly fixed and could have affected the performance of the tyres. The FRSC said the DOT number of the tyres were inward which indicates that the orientations of the tyres were not properly fixed and this could have adversely affected the performance of the tyres.
5. Failure to use seat belts by the deceased: The failure to use seat belts by the deceased minister and his family members decreased their chances of surviving the crash as revealed by the FRSC investigation.
After the tyre bust, the vehicle which was moving at excess speed reportedly somersaulted several times resulting in the ejection of the minister and his son from the tumbling vehicle, causing the instant death of the minister and his son while his wife died in hospital.
The investigation showed that the travelling speed of the Lexus LX570 presented unsafe consequences in the event of certain road risks that may have occurred especially if the occupants were not wearing seat belts as the the occupants of the front seats received fewer injuries because they made use of their seat belts.
6. The inexperience of the driver: The investigation team gathered that Taiwo James Elegbede, the driver of the minister, had no valid driver’s licence as checks by the FRSC showed that the driver’s details were not registered on the FRSC data base as a licensed driver. Details of the findings also suggest the driver lacked sufficient experience which caused him to enter into a panic after the tyre burst, a situation which resulted in his hard application of the brakes and subsequent loss of control that took him into the bush path. What do you think, would the situation have turned out differently if the above mistakes were avoided?
Source: Naij.com
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