Red Light Runner

Road Safety

On Thursday, April 23rd,2026, I set out on a monitoring of red-light runners. It was my first time doing this. I know the approach may not comply fully with basic research rudiments. Yet, I indulged myself just to how a feel of this craze that has turned simple civic responsibility of obeying and adhering to safety guide into a suicidal mission.

My assignment took off from the Life-Camp junction through Berger to Area One Shopping complex. In all, I monitored about nine traffic lights. Out of these, two were not-functional. At the remaining seven traffic lights, I manually counted between eleven to fifteen red light runners despite light traffic at the time of my assignment. I did not waste my time with sampling but just to have a feel of this madness.

The defaulters were the same. Big boys. Movers and shakers, including motorcyclists and taxi drivers. Are you a red -light runner? Are you among the big boys who run red lights in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory. I am talking about the drivers who boast about the efficacy of the blood of Jesus in the event of a collision. I mean those who plead the blood after disregarding the law of the land because they have arrived.

Those, who while heading for the house of prayer have no regard for the law of the land. Those above the law. The untouchables. The movers and shakers of the Nigerian society, economy, politics and shakers of ‘the heavenlies’? Are you among them? The ones with odeshi(it does not penetrate).

The immuned drivers whose lives are indeed beyond destruction. Who decorate their steering wheel with special feathers for protection against death in the event of a fatal collision. The ones who own Nigeria and also have the power over death. The ones who pray and also as buffer, (a comprehensive insurance cover over death) consult the indestructible for protection.

Do you know the number of fatal collisions at traffic junctions in major cities? Do you know the number of deaths? Injuries? Economic losses due to damaged traffic lights. The economic cost to the government as well as individuals? Traffic signs and vehicles as well as other infrastructure. Do you know the number crippled for life because you chose to disobey the traffic light?

Truth, is I do not know either. The difficulty in data collection at these junctions and the time of some of these collisions early in the day especially during Saturday mornings makes it difficult. Furthermore, the absence of the appropriate closed-circuit television (CCTV) and other urban surveillance technology handicaps the Federal Road Safety despite efforts by the current leadership to up the ante in data collection and reliability.

Are you aware of the provisions of the Federal Road Safety (Establishment Act, 2007) with respect to the penalty for being involved in a crash and not reporting it. Specifically, section 25 addresses the requirements for individuals to report crashes immediately or as soon as practicable to the nearest FRSC office.

Section 20(1) says if a person drives a motor vehicle on a highway recklessly or at a speed or in a manner which is dangerous to the public and causes the death of another, they are guilty of an offence. They range from   an imprisonment term not exceeding seven years. Disregard for these provisions, public apathy as well as delayed prosecution further complicates efforts by the Agency in its ongoing reforms to improve data reliability and robustness.

Now; let me take you through data sourced from a webinar I am meant to attend in a couple of weeks focusing on how to tackle redlight running. It says that red light running causes 1,272 deaths each year in the United States and about 30percentof fatalities at signalized intersections.

Meanwhile, new research on V2X-enables red light running advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) shows how providing drivers with advanced warning of potential red-light violation could prevent up to 855 fatalities and nearly 78,000 injuries annually in the United States alone. This research will be a gamechanger when deployed to climes such as ours.

But before that is done, please multiply these new findings or better still adopt this for Sub Saharan countries and be marveled at the significant improvements in cities where we treat signalized intersections as museum artifacts meant to be admired and not obeyed.

Let me guide you on the safety framework supported by the World Health organisation and the United Nations on the subject of today. Both organizations recommend that signalized intersection collisions be addressed within the context of a Safe system approach which prioritizes human life and acknowledges human error.

They note that intersection-related crashes are highly dangerous, contributing to 20-45 percent of crashes globally. Both further note that major collisions at these locations happen within 4 seconds of light change, often involve rear-end incidents, angle/side impacts, and conflicts between vehicles and vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and cyclists.

In addition, they identify high speed as a major contributing factor to collision severity, particularly when drivers fail to adhere to speed limits or traffic signals. They therefore recommend that dedicated pedestrian phases and optimized signal timings are used to reduce interaction between vehicles and pedestrians, especially given the rising fatality rates.

With 1.9deaths through road traffic crashes annually, improving intersection design is crucial to protecting vulnerable road users and these were captured in my piece, captioned, Green Man focusing on disregard of the Green light by both the vulnerable pedestrians and drivers. If you didn’t read it, please I suggest you do but for the sake of this week’s focus, I will however, do a snap-shots of some of the titbits to drive home my point again.

My first shock was not the infraction committed by the pupils while crossing. It was the sheer ‘madness’ displayed by a good number of drivers who failed to yield a way for these pupils to cross over. One, or two drivers were in too much in a hurry to come to a halt. There was also the absence of a traffic officer from the school or a traffic officer appointed by either of the traffic services for such safety assistance.

It was then I took the liberty to confirm the level of safety education displayed by these pupils while crossing. That was my greatest shock. Except for a few, the rest alongside their teachers displayed ignorance of the workings of the ‘’Green Man’ ’They did not just ignore the guidance of the Green Man, they committed another traffic offence by crossing in-between vehicles, blinding their sight.

Do you know the global number of deaths due to pedestrians not complying with the Green Man’’ signal. Do you know that it is difficult to isolate traffic deaths as many traffic reports focus on overall intersection fatalities or driver non-compliance.

Do you also know that failure to obey traffic signals by both drivers and pedestrians is a major contributor to fatal crashes. I know there is a dearth in data with respect to this in our clime, but the figures for non-compliance in developed climes are disturbing. For instance, in the United States, about 28percent of fatal crashes at traffic -controlled intersections occur because a driver runs a red light.

In the same US, the report shows that in 2017,939 people were killed in such accidents. Meanwhile, approximately 10 to 19 percent of pedestrians’ fatalities at intersections occurred during the red light when pedestrians were violating the signal. This death rate is in tandem with the global statistics which says that, over half of traffic deaths are among vulnerable road users such as pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists

In the midst of this ‘madness’ that has claimed lives, one of the simplest and vital symbols for vulnerable pedestrians’ safety is the “Green Man” I am talking about the illuminated walking figure on pedestrians’ traffic lights that signals when it is safe to cross the road. This small icon is a life saver, yet like most life savers such as seatbelts and crash helmets, are often ignored.

These human shaped symbols are simple and easy to read for all ages; children, tourists and all categories of road users irrespective of their literacy. The novelty of this symbol is to separate pedestrians and vehicle movements in line with the safe system approach. It helps in temporarily stopping vehicles so that pedestrians can safely walk across.