Road accident ranks second as source of violent death in Nigeria after Boko Haram insurgency. Despite poor national road accident data, a report from the FRSC (Federal Road Safety Commission, the lead road safety agency in Nigeria) shows that 340,466 (three hundred and forty thousand, four hundred and sixty six) and 1,116,244 (one million, one hundred and sixteen thousand, two hundred and forty four) people have been killed and injured in road accidents between 1960 and 2014 respectively on our highways. A more recent mid-year report of the mayhem on our highways from the FRSC show that an average of 13 and 79 people were respectively killed and injured daily in road accidents between January and June 2015. Disturbing figures right? Add to that thousands of unrecorded deaths and injuries on our state and local roads to have a full picture of the status quo.

The FRSC boss reported that 50.8% of total recorded accidents are caused by speed violation and hence, the enforcement of speed limiter device on commercial vehicles from April 1^st 2016. Due to different reactions generated by this policy, the House of Representatives has summoned the agency not to proceed with the enforcement. The Reps claimed that the speed limiter device proposed by the FRSC is obsolete and will give criminals undue advantage over road users in crime situations. On the other hand, the agency claims that the enforcement of this device on commercial vehicles promises a huge reduction in the number of fatal accidents on the highway. This device was estimated to cost each vehicle an average of N35,000 with an additional N1,000 installation fee in September 2015 when one dollar was sold at one hundred and ninety seven naira. In the last months, the agency has postponed the commencement twice, in June and September 2015, and reasons not communicated to the public. During this time, an expression of interest for supply vendors was advertised twice, from which sixteen accredited vendors were chosen to supply the device. Feel free to check out the companies and your guess would be as good as mine. There was also a “Spider Technology” that was mentioned by a member of the house, but the argument by the FRSC boss about the Spider Technology is justifiable.

In my interview with Jeremiah Kingsley of The Guardian Nigeria on the effect the speed limiter device enforcement, I mentioned that “it is a step in the wrong direction and that it seems more of a business venture than a safety initiative” and here is why. In the absence of national vehicle population data, let us do a quick/rough calculation. In a 2014 half year report by the FRSC, over four million vehicles were reported to have travelled around the country and conveyed over forty seven million passengers. If we assume 25% to be commercial vehicles, we will be left with about one million vehicles, which translates to about $120 million worth of demand for speed limiter device. Transportation fares would definitely be hiked as a direct response to the expense imposed on the operators. This wouldn’t have mattered much if only the device would indeed save lives and reduce accident rates as a temporary measure. It wouldn’t hurt to pay a bit more to stay safe and alive. Except that speed limiter device is not expected to make much impact given the type of problem at hand. In fact, report has it that the device has been tried and phased out in other African countries. Report from the Kenyan accident statistics show that when speed governor also known as speed limiter device was legislated in December 2013, there was little or no reduction in accident casualties, while significant difference was achieved with installation of speed cameras for real time highway speed monitoring. The legislation must have been easier to pass in Kenya, given that there is a local manufacturer of the device in their tech industry. I wonder why our lead safety agency has only chosen the bad example and saddle the people with this huge expense. Whatever happened to #BuyNaijaToGrowNaira.

Clamping all commercial vehicle speed to say 100km/hr will neither solve the problem of “Speed Violation” nor reduce road fatalities, but will only ensure that the vehicles don’t exceed 100km/hr or the set maximum speed. According to research results, a vehicle crash at 100km/hr is like a 50 meter fall, or a jump from a 12 storey building, face first unto oddly shaped pieces of steel, the dashboard, and glass, the windshield. How will the speed limiter device prevent fatalities in such an event? Also imagine a vehicle travelling at 80km/hr on a 50km/hr road section, how will the speed limiter device stop such vehicle from violating the allowed speed limit, exposing other road users to risk of high impact collision?

In most FRSC’s crash incident reports, it is observed that their conclusion for almost every road fatalities is “overspeeding”, perhaps trying to justify the need for this policy. The idea that an increase in speed leads to an increase in severity is the easiest thing that appeals to the mind to believe, but not borne of facts. Never has the agency admitted the poor state of our highways and other unmeasured factors as major causes of road fatalities. How does the agency even determine an “overspeeding” vehicle when most roads have no visible speed limit signs, their patrol vehicles are not equipped with speed measuring devices and there is no known road infrastructure to measure vehicle speeds on our roads? How do you control what you cannot measure?

There are many road safety policies that has been adopted by several countries around the world that did not cost its citizens yet produced a sharp drop in road fatalities, like the Swedish Vision Zero. Highlighted below are a few recommended policies to improve our status quo.

1. There is an urgent need for a national policy that mandates the use of seat belt for all vehicle passengers, commercial or private. In most road accidents in Nigeria, drivers are known to either sustain very light injuries or in some cases come out unscratched, while other passengers are usually the causalities. The current national traffic law only mandates the driver and the front seat passenger to buckle up. The unfortunate incident involving minister Ocholi’s family amplifies the urgency of this policy.
2. A policy that mandates a periodic medical examination for commercial drivers especially mental and eyes examination is needed in national traffic law. Several of the drivers on our roads are either blind or mentally ill or both and this is another unmeasured cause of road accidents.
3. The penalty system in the current national traffic law is obsolete and does not reflect the gravity of the offences. For example, speed violation offence which is said to be the “leading accident cause” attracts only N3,000 (about $10) fine, use of mobile phone while driving attracts a fine of N4,000 (about $13) and driving without seat belt attracts a fine of N2,000 (about $7). While overloading a vehicle attracts N10,000 (about $33) fine and “dangerous driving” attracts a fine of N50,000 (about $167).
4. There is need for a policy that regulates the maximum driving hours for commercial drivers, as a means to control fatigued drivers on our roads. This is another unmeasured accident cause.
5. The state of our highways require the intervention of the lead road safety agency. They need guard rails and safety barriers to prevent head-on collisions and serving off the road accidents. The lead agency might not be responsible for road infrastructure, but they are responsible for the safety level of the roads and must live up to their responsibilities.

A law without enforcement they say is nothing but good advice. The lead agency must develop a transparent enforcement structure in partnership with other enforcement agencies to drive compliance while regaining the people’s trust.

Adeyemi Adedokun is an Intelligent Transport Systems researcher at Linkoping University Sweden. He is passionate about traffic safety and transportation development in Nigeria and Africa.

Adeyemi Adedokun
MSc. Intelligent Transport Systems,
University of Applied Sciences, Vienna, Austria.
Linköping University, Sweden.
Mobile: +46729037809