Abuja, May 9, 2023 – A total of 1,441 passengers lost their lives in road accidents in Nigeria between January and March, 2023.
Dauda Biu, the Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps, said this in Abuja on Tuesday.
He said the victims were killed in 2,733 crashes in which 8,339 other persons were injured.
“The most worrisome part is that more than 89 percent of the crashes were speed-induced.
“In Nigeria, the picture is not different from global experience as speed emerges the highest contributory factor of road crashes, injuries, and deaths.
“This observation led the FRSC to begin to search for a lasting solution, having observed that behavioural and attitudinal change methods alone cannot bring the desired result.
“Today, we are complying with the UN Decade of Action (2021-2030) on approach to road safety, particularly as it relates to safer vehicles.
“It is assured that if we have good mobility through design and manufacturing of vehicles, crashes will reduce on our roads,’’ he said.
Biu said fatalities from road crashes had engendered global action and campaigns for mitigation, adding that the strategy is now was to apply technology.
He said that was cost-effective and adoptable with capacity to regulate speed to national thresholds.
This, he said, had brought about speed-limiting device installation in vehicles.
Biu expressed regret that attempts made in the past to enforce the policy on installation of speed-limiting devices in commercial vehicles witnessed several postponements.
He explained that President Muhammadu Buhari approved the policy on April 1, 2016, but the need advocacy delayed its implementation up to Oct. 1, 2016.
Biu said that between Oct. 1, 2016 and April 30, 2023, only 173,573 vehicles had been installed with speed limiter.
“A large number of registered vehicles in Nigeria are yet to comply; this is unacceptable, hence the urgent need for this very policy.
“The FRSC has proposed the development and implementation of pre-fitted, speed-limiting device for all vehicles assembled in Nigeria and those imported into the country,’’ he said. (GBN)
