(a). Identify five reasons for which it has become increasingly difficult to maintain low rate of accidents on Nigerian roads.
(b). Highlight five measures that can be adopted by the Nigerian government to reduce the rate of accidents on Nigerian roads.
Explanation
(a). - Poor functional roads: Many accidental occurance while driving in Nigeria is as a result of bad roads. Many of our roads are inaccessible, too narrow, not developed, full of potholes.
-Bad vehicle/motor maintenance culture in Nigeria: Many people fail to engage in simple maintenance check and servicing of their vehicle such as the break, tires, steering etc.
-Poor driving behaviour: Many Nigerians usually throw caution into the wind when driving. They drive recklessly trying to overtake other's vehicle like it's a car racing competition, and also fail to adhere to simple traffic and driving rules and regulations.
-Lack of proper driving education: Many drivers didn't attend driving school, so they are not well-informed about certain driving rules, skills and safety tips.
-Use of mobile devices and gadgets while driving: Even with several warnings from government agencies concerning transportation, people still engage in dangerous behaviours such as making calls when driving, reading and replying text messages, driving while watching videos from the car.
(b). - Sanitation of motor parks from alcohol sales and consumption
Shops where alcoholic beverages are sold are visibly present in most if not all Nigerian motor parks today without recourse to the very negative effects of drunk drinking by drivers who are the main consumers. The resultant effect is reckless driving on our Highways. There needs to be proper enactment of legislations to address this issue and thorough enforcement of legislations already put in place forbidding the sales of alcoholic drinks or beverages in our motor parks.
- Routine maintenance and rehabilitation of road pavements.
Bad road pavement conditions in Nigeria are one of the principal causes of road accidents. These roads are poorly constructed and rarely managed or rehabilitated. When these roads are not maintained and rehabilitated, they tend to deteriorate. Therefore a remote way of ensuring accident reduction/prevention is for the government, which is charged with the responsibility for good maintenance to draw up and implement to the later on regular basis, budgets that match the demands of the road network and its infrastructure.
- Total prohibiting the use of mobile phones while driving
While there is little concrete evidence yet on how to reduce mobile phone use while driving, the Nigerian government needs to be proactive. Actions that can be taken to address this ill tradition by Nigerians include enacting, adopting and fully enforcing legislative measures prohibiting the use of mobile phones while driving.
- Training and retraining/public enlightenment
The road traffic system itself is dynamic in nature. Hence training and retraining of drivers constitute a formidable means of effectively dealing with the issue of road traffic accident reduction. In Nigeria today, major road traffic accident scenes have been noticed to involve commercial transporters/vehicles. To this end, there is urgent need for public transport operators to ensure that their drivers are trained and retrained in collaboration with the Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC.
- Diligence of duty by government established agencies
Government should ensure that all established agencies such as Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC and Vehicle Inspection Offices, VIO must carry out their jobs effectively and thoroughly; checking the conditions of vehicles that ply on our road, without extorting money or collecting bribes from drivers.