Kwara CP Blames Failure To Comprehend Road Signs For Highway Crashes.. Reveals Unique Things About Wife, Late Father
Kwara state police chief, Mr. Olaiya Victor Mobolaji, a Commissioner of Police, has submitted that the main cause of highway crashes in the country is failure of the motoring public to comprehend and know the meanings of road signs or attach importance to it.
Road signs are according to him designed to convey messages and give information on routes, directions and warnings to the motorists.
He noted that poor level of understanding and meanings of road signs has caused avoidable road crashes that have claimed lives.
The police commissioner said this during the dinner he hosted at the police officers’ mess, Ilorin on Saturday night which was attended by journalists including Team@orientactualmags.com.
While disclosing that he would have been a lecturer at a tertiary institution if he had not joined the police, Mr. Victor Olaiya, who also said his hobbies are reading and driving, recalled how he drove from Damaturu ,Yobe state to Abuja in the night-time hours to attend a promotion interview a few years ago.
‘ I can drive for 48 hours nonstop, I love driving.
I remember what happened a few years ago, we were to attend a promotion interview from DCP to CP at the Police Service Commission, Abuja, the information came at short notice, I was in Damaturu and I was told at about 6pm that I had to be in Abuja by 8am .
‘ Have you been told about the interview? My oga asked and I said ‘no’ and he replied that ‘ well , I have told you’.
I was confused and there is no airport in Yobe state , but I felt that I had to make the best out of the bad situation.
I got ready and left Damaturu about 8pm , I could not go with my driver , you know that a driver cannot tell his boss that he is feeling sleepy, they keep trying to manage the situation until something untoward happens so, I avoided going with the driver.
I got to Abuja before 5am I was alone that is why I said I love driving ,you know some people can do it too but not alone they would want someone to join them so that they can converse .
On getting to Abuja, there was no opportunity to sleep because I may take a nap and fail to wake up before 8am .
I managed to keep my eyes open until the whole exercise was over at about 2 pm’ he said.
The CP also recalled how he was made to attach importance to road signs and their meanings when he left high school and he has urged motorists in the country to also take this seriously.
‘We actually began to learn how to drive as young people, when your mum returns from office and she is having a siesta you pick up the car keys and try doing it but the moment I left high school , they took me to driving school and they gave me the highway codes and I read and digested it , I did the oral and the practical tests that is why I know the road signs and their meanings.
Failure to do this by road users is responsible for most of the road accidents, many of the drivers know nothing about road signs and knowing the meanings of road signs really matters.
When you are approaching a narrow bridge , you would have seen a road sign that says narrow bridge ahead but if you see it and you don’t know what it means , that is the problem, you will see signs that say rough roads ahead , sharp bend ahead ,intersection ahead among other things.
You must come to a full stop at an intersection ., you must know who has the right of way at a roundabout, you don’t struggle otherwise you would be doing the wrong thing.
Someone has the right of way at a roundabout, vehicles from the right should give way. Eighty percent of motorists don’t know the road signs, they don’t consider it as important, the number of illiterate drivers make it worse , educated people have no time to study it because they don’t consider it as important , they will say ‘I can drive now’. Those who are not educated mostly the commercial drivers will not even bother about it, that is why we have cases of highway crashes and fatalities and when you get to the scene of accident you wonder how it happened’ he submitted.
While thanking journalists in the state for their support, Olaiya ,who called the media the ‘engine room’, added what journalists are doing in the society ‘is most invaluable’ noting that the media helps to get the people educated and informed.
The Kwara state police chief also made comments about his late father , Chief Victor Abimbola Olaiya OON, a popular trumpeter, who played in the highlife style .
The late Chief Victor Abimbola Olaiya , who was born on December 31, 1930 , died on February 12 , 2020.
He disclosed that his wife, Mrs. Olaiya has also produced gospel songs noting that he has gotten surrounded by musicians.
‘I am from a family of musicians, I only managed to escape from being one. I was part of the school band in primary and secondary schools but as I was growing up, I developed other interests but today, Iam surrounded by musicians.
After baba’s death ,my siblings formed a band , you know that we are many, so, my siblings formed a band comprising instrumentalists and others just like a foot ball team.
My wife has also produced some gospel songs that is why I said I managed to escape from being a musician.
I had my childhood days in Surulere.
My father lived at Dr Victor Olaiya avenue off Aiyetoro , Aguda, but he was always at the Stadium Hotel, you know you cannot own a hotel and not have your own chalet , office so he was always there , he also visited the musical instruments shop at the family house at Tinubu square daily, he visited Lagos Island every day .
You know that in those days people were of a considered opinion that only the stubborn ones will join the police and so, there was the usual question of ‘why the police?’
But if I had not joined the force, I would have been a lecturer at a tertiary institution’ he added-Team@orientactualmags.com
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