FRSC: Nigeria Records 5,281 Road Traffic Crashes Involving 39,793 People in Six Months

•Records 2,838 deaths with 17,818 persons rescued  

•Says figure represents an increase in crashes by 3.9% and a rise in fatalities by 2.2%

Kasim Sumaina in Abuja

The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) Thursday revealed that available statistics at its disposal, shows that the first half of 2025 has presented a tough challenge in road traffic crashes.

It disclosed that between January and June, 5,281 road traffic crashes occurred across the country involving 39,793 people.

Sadly, 2,838 lives, it said, were lost, while 17,818 were rescued. This figures it added, represents an increase in crashes by 3.9% and a rise in fatalities by 2.2%.

The total number of people involved in road crashes in the period under review, the Corps said also increased by 8.9% compared to the same period in 2024.

Disclosing this at a Press briefing to mark the agency’s 2025 half-year strategy session in Abuja, the Corp Marshal, FRSC, Shehu Mohammed, explained the essence of the press briefing is to evaluate the agency’s progress and to recalibrate its operations for greater impact and outcome.

According to him, it is also on record that during the same period, FRSC operatives arrested 290,887 traffic offenders for committing 319,798 offences.

“Meanwhile, 250,720 offenders were arrested and 271,895 offences recorded in 2024. This reflects a 16% rise in arrests and 14.9% increase in offences booked.”

He noted the increase in the percentage of arrests and offences does not reflect FRSC as a weakened institution, stating: “On the contrary, it affirms that the corps is more vigilant and responsive to ensuring safety through visible enforcement.”

Furthermore, in the period under review, the FRSC boss disclosed that over 30 million passengers travelled using 2.3 million vehicles across national road network.

The volume of vehicles and passengers, on the roads, he said had a corelative impact on the total number of offenders and offences booked.

“It also called for more effort from our operatives to meet up with the expectations for safety by the motoring public.

“For instance, Anambra and Kano States alone accounted for over 6.5 million passengers representing 22% of the total passenger travels.

“These figures clearly demonstrated that the scale of road usage was quite high with attendant pressure on the road infrastructure and on our workforce. Let me state unequivocally that FRSC is not overwhelmed.

“The Corps is a resilient and committed agency rising to meet up with the growing national challenge with professionalism and innovation,” Mohammed noted.