RECKLESS DRIVING AND ROAD TRAFFIC CRASHES

Regulators must do more to stem the carnage on the roads

While reporting that no fewer than 3,400 people died in road traffic crashes (RTC) across the country between January and September 2025, the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Corps Marshal Shehu Mohammed, last October located most of these accidents in reckless driving. “Apparently, driver behaviour is a fundamental element in determining safety on our highways,” Mohammed said at the time. “It is expected that the 2025 end-of-year campaign will create the needed awareness and sensitisation for drivers to take up the issue of safety more seriously.” With many accidents recorded during the period, it is obvious the message was lost on most road users in the country.

Following the accident that claimed the lives of two friends of former Heavyweight boxing champion, Anthony Joshua last Monday, the Ogun State Police Command has arraigned in court the 47-year-old driver of the ill-fated Lexus SUV. The vehicle, according to the FRSC, was “travelling beyond the legally prescribed speed limit on the corridor” and “lost control during an overtaking manoeuvre” leading to the accident. “The primary causes of the crash, being excessive speed and wrongful overtaking, constitute serious traffic violations and remain among the leading causes of fatal road crashes on Nigerian highways.”

We commiserate with Anthony Joshua and the families of his deceased friends. But, as in this case, RTC becomes news only when prominent citizens are involved, or casualty figures in specific incidents are high. Yet, there’s hardly a day when some families would not be thrown into mourning because of these road accidents that claim thousands of lives every year. In fact, multiple road crashes on New Year’s Day in Lagos and Ogun States claimed no fewer than 12 lives, while dozens have died in the past week with over-speeding cited as the major cause. More unfortunate is that victims are often people in the prime of their productive years.

The issue of speed has long been identified by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a key factor in road traffic injuries, influencing both the risk of a crash as well as the severity of the injuries that result from crashes. In fact, WHO and the Global Road Safety Partnership, in its publication, ‘Speed Management: Road Safety Manual for Decision Makers and Practitioners’ recommended that speed limits be introduced in every country as part of the global strategy to cut down road fatalities. Not only has Nigeria yet to come to terms with that prescription, speed limit violation is a predominant challenge to collective efforts to stem the tide of avoidable crashes on our highways.

Excessive speeding decreases driver’s response time in an emergency and may increase the risk of a crash. It equally reduces their ability to manoeuvre safely on the road and extends the distance necessary to stop a vehicle. This is because the higher the speed of a vehicle, the shorter the time a driver must stop and avoid a crash. Speed also contributes to the severity of the impact when a collision does occur. For car occupants in a crash with an impact speed of 80km/hr for instance, the likelihood of death is 20 times what it would have been at an impact speed of 30km/hr.

A reckless driving culture occasioned by excessive speed, making calls or texting on cell phones while on the wheel, drunk driving and poorly maintained vehicles combine to make Nigerian roads a theatre of blood. In Abuja and major cities across the country, it is also a common sight for children of the high and mighty to pull all kinds of stunts with their very expensive cars with which they threaten the lives of other road users. But they are not alone. We live in a country where convoys of public officials and other ‘big men’ do not obey traffic rules. Besides, in a status-obsessed society, it is not only public officials who drive in convoys, politicians, businessmen, clerics, musicians, and just about anybody with enough cash to buy many vehicles, including Hilux, and could pay to hire security personnel, also do. 

To put an end to these avoidable tragedies, we enjoin all road traffic management officials to be more alive to their responsibilities.