The incessant road accidents in the country are as a result of bad roads, over-speeding and reckless driving.
A recent survey conducted in Rivers State by a group of veteran journalists led by Senibo Dr. A. A. Cookey, Secretary, League of Veteran Journalists (LVJ) revealed this
“Out of 60 people sampled in the communities on Aba/PH road and Ada George/Rumuolumeni roads, 96 percent of those sampled responded to the questionnaire which had asked of road accidents in Nigeria and Rivers State in particular.
According to the result, 30 percent said bad roads are the major cause of road accidents, 25 percent identified with over-speeding, while 24 percent reckoned with reckless driving.
As bad roads remain a recurring problem, the survey discovered that the majority of those who ply the Aba/PH Expressway holds the same opinion and are calling for quick reaction.
Ten percent went with bad condition of vehicles as the cause with a mere three percent choosing flouting high way codes and 4 percent chose drunkenness as causes of road accidents in Nigeria.
Participants in the survey were also asked about the effectiveness of Federal Roads Safety Corps (FSRC), Vehicle inspection officers (VIO) and National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) in preventing road accidents in Nigeria.
Nearly one third of the respondents rated the FSRC efforts as good, almost half said VIO efforts are fair and about one third condemned the effort of the NURTW which was rated as very poor.
Respondents were asked of their opinion about other preventive measures of road accidents. More than 66 percent of them strongly agreed that drivers should learn more.
This has since become an issue because majority of the bus drivers are illiterates and only a few have gone though the process of attending a driving school before obtaining a driver’s license.
On the question “Different routes should be made available for heavy trucks or duty vehicles”, a significant number of respondents agreed strongly that different road routes should be made available to heavy duty vehicles such as trailers, long vehicles and so on. This will bring about a reduction in the quick destruction of roads.
This suggests that if Nigerians are reprimanded for disobeying road signs and disrupting traffic, there will be a decrease in road accidents.
From the responses gathered from the survey, the govt should look inward, repair and reconstruct bad roads to avoid the constant loss of lives. ###
Senibo A. A. Cookey
