By Funmi Sobayo.
Roads are a critical factor to safety of travel. The dismal state of Nigerian roads and the consequent effect of the safety or lack thereof, on Nigerian road users therefore cannot be overstated.
Having stated the obvious, there are other factors that contribute to road safety but mostly when personnel of the Federal Road Safety Corps or Vehicle Inspection Officers, or the Police pull over a driver, he or she automatically reaches for the driver’s license and vehicle documents to present to them. This is done on the assumption that, once those have not expired, everything is okay. On other occasions, they apprehend people who either use phones while driving or do not use seatbelts.
On the rare occasion, or when they want “something” and have the decency of not asking for it out rightly, they check for fire extinguishers. I’m not aware that they ever go beyond these checks, so one wonders if in their books, this is all that is required to make road usage safe.
However, we all know that there are so many other measures that must be put in place to enhance safety on our roads.
First, the use of roads by drivers, riders and pedestrians must be made to conform with road use protocols.
Roads are demarcated into lanes for a reason. Some of our roads, especially in Abuja, Lagos and other towns have two or three lanes, but at every given time Nigerians road users form as many lanes as space can allow, especially at traffic light stops or in traffic congestions. It is not unusual to see drivers bearing down on sidewalks, or even driving against traffic.
Driving against traffic has become so acceptable that our police, military and government drivers, oftentimes with their bosses on board, engage in this practice unchallenged by FRSC officials or anyone else.
Then there is the use of traffic lights. Many Nigerian drivers beat traffic lights, not minding that this could result in terrible accidents. In places like Lokoja, the Kogi State capital; and Minna, the Niger State capital, obeying traffic lights shows you are a visitor. All over the country, it seems the few that get apprehended, resolve the issue with “a little something”. The worst offenders in this regard are delivery motorcycle riders, followed by police and bank drivers.
The tricycle riders are completely reckless, without any sense of road use protocols. They crisscross the roads at will, and crawl through whatever little space they can squeeze through, not minding if they scratch any vehicles or push pedestrians off designated walkways. Ditto the motorcyclists.
The pedestrians are no different, as they ignore the pedestrian bridges even where provided, and either dash through the roads like rabbits, not minding oncoming vehicles, or lackadaisically walk through, daring riders or drivers to run over them.
Even without laws preventing it, common sense should tell any road user that it is wrong to apply brakes suddenly, stop on the road virtually, at junctions or just after, to either pick or drop people, but apparently this is a scarce commodity in Nigeria, especially among our commercial drivers. So they do these routinely, oftentimes right around where FRSC and police personnel are stationed, without being called to order.
In Abuja, the Area 1 roundabout has been completely taken over by commercial drivers as they look for passengers. The police personnel permanently stationed there seem to find nothing wrong with this situation. The same may be said of Berger roundabout, Gudu market junction, and many others.
Then there is the issue of none functional traffic lights. Some traffic lights that are permanently out of order, with no one seeming to notice. The result is that the everyone gets onto the road at the same time, causing traffic jams, sometimes hitting each other.
Vehicle Inspection Officers are inarguably the most obnoxious public officers on the road. Many of them are crass and mean, in the discharge of their duties, yet other than harassing drivers over vehicle documents, they do not seem to think they have any other duties. How else can one explain why they do not apprehend motorcycle passengers who convey roofing sheets, large pieces of glassware long metals and other dangerous materials in heavy traffic or on express roads? They also do not deter vehicles that are clearly not roadworthy from road usage, thereby, putting other road users at risk.
It would appear that speed limits are also not regulated in Nigeria, so you find a young boy bearing down the road at the speed of 120km/h inside a township. The same seems to be the case of age restrictions and driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol, leading to many needless accidents, some of which unfortunately result in grievous injuries and deaths.
The scenarios above are mostly prevalent in our townships, but the situation is not different on the express roads.
Outside the metropolitan areas, in addition to the very bad roads, you have those crudely constructed speed breakers that have become the hallmark of Nigerians roads. All of them not built in conformity with any standards. One wonders who constructs them, who gives the permission and determines their specification. In fact, there are places where, in place these so called speed breakers, portions of the roads are dug out so crudely that they have become death traps, or at best exhaust pipe breakers. Then there are those people, mostly in villages along the roads, as one travels throughout the country, with nail laden woods that they throw onto the roads right as vehicles approach them. This practice has been known to puncture tyres, and in some cases, cause fatal accidents.
Irrespective of the state of our roads, these, among other factors, contribute to making our roads less safe.
Enumerating these unsafe road practices however will not change the situation. What then should be done?
First, FRSC and other agencies concerned with ensuring safety on our roads must continuously engage in training and retraining of their personnel on their duties especially those on the field.
They must also improve on their efforts towards the sensitisation of road users including ensuring that necessary road signs are put in place when and where necessary.
Key to achieving success in this regard is enforcement. All concerned agencies must therefore ensure strict compliance without fear or favour, regardless of who is involved. Field officers must also be routinely monitored to ensure that they are alive to their responsibilities.
To do this effectively, government must enable these agencies to engage and appropriately train more personnel for the task ahead, because clearly they all do not have enough hands to carry out these duties efficiently.
Finally, government must equip and fund these agencies for effective service delivery. Recently I happened by an accident involving two vehicles. The FRSC personnel who had rushed to the scene were unable to evacuate the injured and the dead, as they had no ambulance. They also looked on helplessly as the vehicles exploded and burnt down completely. They were not equipped to do anything to help.
▪︎ Sobayo, an Abuja resident, works with youths, and sent this via e-mail.