The seminary community held her annual Word and Life Seminar on the 3oth of January 2016. As a community of religious, priests and future priests, who will have to drive vehicles in order to efficiently carry out their apostolates, we decided to center this edition of the Word and Life Seminar on road safety. We had the opportunity to listen to Miss Ann Osaiyi, who works with the Department of Planning and Research Statistics of the Federal Road Safety Commission, Oyo State. She spoke on the topic “Defensive Driving.” According to her, the interest of any good driver should be first on what she called defensive driving and not merely on his/her rights on the road. She noted that defensive driving is rooted in the necessary presumption that every other person on the road is insane except oneself. Consequently, she highlighted the following as the qualities of a defensive driver. The person must be:

1. be licensed driver

2. Be knowledgeable and well informed

3. Be watchful of dangers

4. Be careful to judge before acting

5. Have courtesy

6. Prepare for any journey such that he/she is able to avoid rush

7. Have the ability to manage aggressive drivers and his own anger

8. Avoid common distractions, such as the use of mobile phones while driving

She further called our attention to five driving techniques, namely:

1. Speed control

2. Space caution

3. Communication (e.g. with lights)

4. Blind spot avoidance

She also spoke on the duties of the different law enforcements agencies we can meet on the road. They are: the Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIO), the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) and the Nigeria Police Force (NPF). According to her, it is wise to always stop and attend to any of these agencies when they signal to stop. However, if it becomes clear to us that they only want to extort money from us, it is wise to allow them establish their case fully before taking it up. To this effect, she charge us on the need to equally know our rights and responsibilities as road users as well as the rights and responsibilities of the various agencies mentioned above.

      There was a question and answer section as well as room for clarification and contributions after the talk. All these further helped to enrich the program which came to a close at about 6:pm with a closing prayer led by For Oseni Ogunu, OMV.