The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has taken a significant step towards community-led emergency care with the official launch of a National Post-Crash Care Volunteers Initiative in Zamfara State. This innovative program, inaugurated in the Damba community of Gusau Local Government Area, represents a strategic shift towards embedding life-saving first response capabilities directly within local populations.
Inaugurating the unit, the Zamfara State FRSC Sector Commander, Aliyu Maaji, emphasized that the initiative is a core component of the Corps’ community engagement strategy. “The idea behind the post-crash volunteers is to complement the efforts of our regular marshals in reducing road crash fatalities,” Maaji stated. He explained that effective traffic management and rescue operations often depend on the critical minutes immediately following an accident—a window where trained local volunteers can make the difference between life and death before professional responders arrive.
The genesis of this unit is a textbook example of proactive community partnership. The process began when youths from the Damba community formally reported the frequent road crashes on their stretches of highway to the FRSC command. “On receiving the complaint, the command mobilized and visited the area for a spot assessment and promised the community our support,” Commander Maaji recounted. This dialogue transformed a local concern into a structured solution, moving from identification to action.
The selected volunteers from Damba will undergo specialized training in post-crash rescue. This training typically covers vital skills such as:
- Basic First Aid and Trauma Care: Managing bleeding, stabilizing fractures, and ensuring open airways for victims.
- Safe Victim Extraction: Techniques to safely remove injured persons from wrecked vehicles without causing further spinal or internal injuries.
- Scene Management: Securing accident sites to prevent secondary collisions, directing traffic, and preserving evidence for investigation.
- Psychological First Aid: Providing calm, reassuring support to shocked victims and bystanders.
This model empowers communities to become first responders in their own right, effectively extending the reach of the FRSC into areas where patrol density may be lower or response times longer. Commander Maaji expressed the command’s commitment to replicating this volunteer group model in other communities to further supplement the operations of regular marshals across the state.
The Ward Head of Damba, Alhaji Abdullahi Mande, commended the dedication of the community’s youths in driving the initiative and thanked the FRSC for its supportive response. He pledged the community’s ongoing support to ensure the volunteers’ success. This collaborative spirit between a federal agency and a local community highlights a sustainable path forward for road safety in Nigeria—one built on shared responsibility and localized action.
Edited by Sandra Bullock
