Data from the Federal Road Safety Corps and the National Bureau of Statistics says between 2013 and 2020, at least 41,709 persons have lost their lives to road crashes in Nigeria.
Road crashes are identified as one of the leading causes of death in Nigeria, especially among age groups 5 to 29.
Though unfortunate, road accidents have become a normal and recurring incident in the country. In fact, hardly a day goes by without the news of a road traffic crash resulting in loss of lives and/or permanent disability.
In 2016, the Word Economic Forum (WEF) noted that road traffic deaths are the eighth leading cause of death for all age groups and the leading cause of death of children and young adults between the ages of 5 and 29.
According to the FRSC “This [road traffic crash], apart from insurgency and banditry, is among the leading causes of death in Nigeria…” said Sanusi Ibrahim, Borno State Sector Commander of the FRSC.
According to the data from FRSC and NBS, 2020 saw the highest death toll from road traffic accidents.
An analysis of the data shows that except for 2014, all other years recorded a minimum of 5,000 deaths annually in the period under review.
Also, in the last four years, there has been an increase in the number of road traffic crashes in Nigeria. In 2017 the number of people killed in road traffic accidents stood at 5,049. The following year it increased to 5,181. By 2019, the total number of deaths from road traffic crashes jumped to 5,483, then increased to 5,574 by the end of 2020.
A breakdown of the 2019 data by state reveals that Kaduna recorded the highest number of deaths from road traffic accidents with 484 deaths. Ogun followed with 364, Bauchi 349, Niger 303 then Oyo with 276 deaths.
Bayelsa on the other hand recorded the least deaths (6). Rivers and Borno followed with 26 and 31 deaths respectively.
While a number of factors are responsible for road traffic crashes in Nigeria, a recent report by Dataphyte identified speed violation, light/sign violation, wrongful overtaking, dangerous driving and tyres bursting as causes of road traffic accidents in the country.
Break failures, route violation and bad roads are also noted as some of the causes.
As the ball has been set rolling for the new year and citizens continue with their hustle for a living, road users, as well as agencies charged with the mandate of securing the roads, may need to pay more attention to the highlighted factors causing road traffic crashes and design strategies to mitigate these factors, prioritizing safety over all other things.