Ember months: The need to avert road crashes, debunk myths
Ember months like all other months of the year should not attract or be attached with any special attention or recognition for any reason in Nigeria. But this has not been the case. When we talk about ember months, we are simply referring to the last four months of the year that end with ‘ember’ — September, October, November and December. Over time, a lot of myths have been built around the ember months.
While some people say ember months are governed by evil spirits, others say it is only by the grace of God that Nigerians survive the last quarter of the year.
The fact is that ember months are just like every other period of the year, but characterised by sheer hustle and bustle of man to meet up his targets, bearing in mind that the year has almost ended. Simply put, ember months, just like every other period of the year, have no peculiarities, attention or recognition. It is sheer imagination, coupled with anxiety of man that has alluded non-existent importance to the so-called ember months.
The Federal Road Safety Corps(FRSC) has repeatedly told road users and the purveyors of ember months myth that indiscipline accounts for over 80 percent of the road accidents in Nigeria.
Statistics has it that 24 lives per day have been lost to road accidents from January to June in 2023. A disaster that would have been avoided by observing basic rules governing road usage.
What are other causes of road accidents in Nigeria and beyond? Poor road maintenance culture constitutes yet another major cause of road accidents. There is no reason why failed portions of our roads should almost become fashionable in the country’s road network. There have been instances of major roads in Nigeria being cut off completely for years without visible attention from any quarter, especially relevant bodies charged with the responsibility of managing and maintaining our roads to fix it.
For instance, the East-West Road tranversing the Niger Delta region that was eroded by flooding for the past five years has remained unattended to till date. Port Harcourt-Enugu Road, especially the Aba-Port Harcourt axis has remained a nightmare to road users for over a decade. The list is endless. Where such death traps exist, road crashes become a daily occurrence.
Other causes include overloading of the vehicles, influence of alcohol, receiving or making calls while driving, over speeding, among several others. It has been said and rightly too, that speed does not shorten the distance of the journey, but most times it shortens life.
Therefore, all efforts should be geared towards cultivating the right attitude while driving, to avoid unnecessary loss of lives and property on our highways via accidents.
Strict adherence to road discipline, regular maintenance of our vehicles to ensure their road worthiness will go a long way to avert accidents on our roads, instead of sheepishly blaming ember months and fictitious evil spirits behind the period.
Superstition has no place in the law of safety, the panacea to achieving results in productivity is hard work. Therefore, we should all put our minds together and resolve to obey the rules governing our road usage and see whether lives and property will not be preserved on our roads.
If this feat can be achieved in other developed and conscious societies,why not in Nigeria. It is doable and possible, if only we are determined to do the needful. And the needful is not expensive, but only demands the right attitude, willingness and commitment.
Fear of ember months could be permanently retired in our annals if we believe and work towards achieving safety on our roads. It does not need rocket science to achieve. All that is required is our right attitude.
It is our prayer that the 2023 ember months shall record minimum incidents, as we make bold to adhere to the rules governing the use of our roads.
