The Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, has said that most of the accidents on Nigerian roads are due to drivers’ negligence.
The Edo Sector Commander of the Corps, Cyril Mathew, disclosed this at the “ember months” sensitisation town hall meeting in Benin City.
Mathew said the ember months campaign focuses on passengers as statistics had shown that passengers suffer more fatalities than drivers.
According to him, the records of the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics, NBS, showed thousands of road traffic deaths annually with a significant number of the casualties being passengers traveling in commercial vehicles.
“The NBS statistic also said, approximately 63 per cent of all road traffic deaths involved passengers.
“Most of the accidents were the result from the negligence of the drivers who engaged in risky behaviours on the road thereby putting their passengers at significant risk.
“A study conducted by the FRSC revealed that in road traffic crashes involving commercial drivers, the chances of passengers sustaining serious injuries or fatalities are considerably higher than that of the drivers.
“This is often due to the design of the vehicle which tends to offer more protection to the driver due to safety features such as airbags among others. In contrast, passengers in poorly constructed vehicles lacked such safety features.
“Passengers were not able to influence the decision-making of the drivers thereby leaving the passengers vulnerable to the consequences of their dangerous driving action,” he said.
He said the town hall meeting was to sensitise passengers not to keep quiet but to speak out to save their lives because they suffer more when a vehicle with many passengers is involved in an accident.
The Sector Commander said excessive speeding, driving without obeying traffic lights, driving under the influence of alcohol, drugs, and any substance, and distracting driving such as making calls, smoking, and eating while driving, among others, constitute dangerous driving on the road.
He called on drivers to obey traffic rules and regulations to ensure safe arrival at their destinations.
