No fewer than 59 traffic offenders were convicted in Asaba on Monday by a Mobile Court Unit of the FRSC, as part of its special patrol activities.

The Chief Magistrate of the court, Mr Nnamdi Onyekwe, said the convicts were convicted for various traffic offenses, including seat belt violation and dangerous driving.

Onyekwe said that out of 64 persons arraigned before the court, five persons were cautioned and pardoned, while the convicts were, however, given option of fines ranging from N2,000 to N50,000.

The Acting Commander of FRSC in the state, Mrs Patricia Emeordi, disclosed that the special patrol team was in tandem with “ember” months campaign tagged ‘’ Operation Zero Tolerance: Actualising UN Decade of Action on Road Safety’’.

Emeordi said the United Nations had set 2011 to 2020 as the decade of action on road safety and had sought best practices in road safety globally.

She explained that though the rate of road crashes had decreased in the command following the intensive patrol by its personnel, the rate of fatality was still high. She also noted that more drivers were still involved in drunk-driving and over-loading.

The Acting Commander however, called on the road users to obey road traffic rules as well as law enforcement agents on duty, stressing that it was the duty of all to work together to reduce road traffic crashes by at least 50 per cent as directed by the UN. (NAN)