EVALUATING THE CONTRIBUTION OF BAD ROADS ON THE OCCURRENCE OF AUTOMOBILE ACCIDENTS IN NIGERIA

CHAPTER TWO

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

2.1 INTRODUCTION

The Federal Road Safety commission (FRSC) is a government agent with statutory responsibility for road safety administration in Nigeria. It was established in 1988. the federal road safety corps (FRSC) operates in all Nigerian states as well as the federal capital territory (FCT) A corps marshal of the FRSC Osita Chidoka (2008) said that 18300 road accidents have claimed 51251 persons injured in Nigeria in the past three years. He further explained errant petroleum tankers drivers were responsible for most of the accident in Nigeria he said that in the first three months of the year 2007, 2119 accidents involving tankers drivers claimed 301 lives meanwhile; one analyst has said the figure of fatalities by the police is a gross under – estimation of the death resulting from accident. Adegbenro (2009) studied the road accidents trends in Nigeria between the period of 1960 and 1989 his study reveal a sharp increase in fatal accident occurrence. Between 1960 and 1969 it was observed that over 18000 death occur as a result of road accidents by the third decade (1980 – 1989) this figure had increase to about five times i.e. more than 9200 death. According to Eke (2001) it has however being observed that most of the factors involving in road accidents are created and control by man. Man initiated the process that may yield a road accidents by traveling, he or she may travel as a pedestrian as a passenger in a vehicle or as the operator of the vehicle. Odero (1998) added that most vehicle operator also fail to ensure the road worthiness of their vehicle before they hit the highway which contributes majorly to road accidents in Nigeria. Occasionally, the vehicle operator fails to adhere to safety regulation for instance, fastening the seatbelt and ensuring safe condition of the vehicles. It has also been observed that during the festival periods and holidays, there are always more vehicles on the Nigeria highways and road, people tend to be rushing to meet certain commitment or to arrive at their destination earlier consequently, there are more accident during theses period than other time. A student, member of the red cross, Miss Kemi Oluwapo said that “road accidents, though labeled accidental, are most time cause by dangerous driving which informs why we keep on having them every day, despite effort by relevant agencies to have them minimized on our road and your surroundings at all times there could be many things going on in traffic all around you, so it is crucial that you pay attention to everything going on around you driving should be your only focus while behind the wheel. Some drivers while on wheels eat their breakfast, drink their coffees, apply their makeup and change their out fits and these are drivers that are involved in accident. (Antigba 1996 and Edom 1989) “the fewer the people that would die from road accidents the better Nigeria will begin to appreciates the federal road safety corps (FRSC) and it is believed that this is possible so talking of being able to show results with the (FRSC), being effective, delivering service reducing road accidents from 100 to 80 percent per month, it is then that service will be known to being delivered. The Federal Road Safety Corps have the responsibility of improving road safety and reducing road accident. Odelowo (1998) believe that the role of intoxication with drugs and alcohol is important in the cause of road accident worldwide. Odeleye (2003) in this view picture the road traffic environment in Nigeria as an environment dominated by abundant combination of largely illiterate or inexperience or drunk or overconfident of drivers, unconcerned about the line of other road users knowing nothing more than the rudiment of money a vehicle and sounding their horn with reckless abandon, meanwhile operating poorly maintained vehicle on high quantity poorly designed ill maintained roads a society that is devoid of traffic law enforcement service and that is ill equipped with emergency Rad Safety facilities where Government, Police, and Military driver flour traffic laws with immunity where paramedical personnel are sometimes called and unconcerned about the agonies of road accident victims. Mr. Osita Chidoka, the Corps Marshal of Nigeria’s Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), said on Saturday that road accidents are the biggest killers of Nigerians, more than any other disease. Although he did not provide statistics for a reality check and comparison with other killers, Chidoka said the frequency of accidents has become a great source of concern. “No other disease is killing people in the country like road traffic accidents and this is a source of concern for all the stakeholders,’’ he said in Sokoto at a Special Marshals Sectoral Workshop, with the theme, “Advocacy as a tool for improved road safety activities’’. Last year, 3,000 people, according to a contentious statistics given by the FRSC, died in Nigeria in 2,235 accidents, making Nigeria, the second country in the world with the highest fatalities on the roads. The World Health Organization and the National Union of Road Transport Workers all disputed last year’s figures. In earlier figures, FRSC reported deaths of 17,000 between 2007 and 2009.In comparison, 220,000 people were estimated to have died as a result of AIdS in 2010. Recently, the corps marshal and chief executive of the federal road safety corps (FRSC) Osita Chidoka said the 54 person died in motor accidents in the northern region of the country between July and August this year. The corps marshal made the fact known in Sokoto at a special marshal sectorial workshop with the term advocacy as a tool for improved road activities according to Chidoka; he said 15 people died during the eld-fitr celebration in August in Zamfara and Kebbi state. 12 of them died in Fsafe, Zamfara the diseased persons where all district head from Jigawa state who were on their way to Argungu Kebbi state, he said adding that the zone road safety 10 comes third nationwide in the ranking of accidents rate during the period “no other diseases is killing people in the country like road traffic accident and this is a sure of concern for all the stakeholders. Mrs. Josephine AGwu cautioned that “if you do not have time to eat, change or apply your make up before you get in the car it is probably good idea to start getting up earlier. Those five extra minute of sleep won’t help you replace your destroyed automobile or help with your rehabilitation following an accidents” put down the cell phone, our cell phone now are a huge survival tool, they lets us make calls, receive and send text messages and e-mails, stuff in the internet and get directions, watch videos, take pictures and listen to music among other things but one place they don’t belong is in your hand while you are behind the wheel. Transport workers according to Dave Spooner of the global labor institution (UK) in 2011, he said over last 20 years the urban centers of development countries have exploded in size. Formal often state owned public transport services have not had the necessary financial or institutional capacity to meet demand and have been badly affected by deregulation and privatization, most state run bus and rail services in developing countries have in effect collapsed as a consequence the information transport section has grown rapidly unemployment and rate of urban poverty. Notwithstanding this global trend there is a spancidy of data collection and systematic analysis of information transport services. The sector is often ignored in policy making circle not least because compiling both quantities and qualitative information is exceedingly difficult. It is not surprising therefore, that there are little reliable and up to date data on the livelihoods of transport workers in the urban informal economy. Recently the Government tendered research into in-vehicle technology that made an evaluation of devices that can inform drivers or monitor driver behaviour, including BBR and vehicle collision avoidance systems. This research involved a trial with Rayol Mail vehicles that resulted in a reduction in accident rates for vehicles installed with on-board recorders. This was similar to the aforementioned study for school bus fleets in the USA (Lehmann and Reynolds 1999). Research commissioned by the Health and Safety Executive found that a third of serious road accidents involve someone driving in the course of their job. Following from this it has been suggested that, unless monitored, people driving company vehicles are more likely to drive while they are tired, overtake in potentially dangerous conditions, speed, and use mobile phones while driving. In 1986, the lack of systematic analysis on regional and intra-urban variation in accident rate was a significant cause for concern. This lead to a call for a “ renewed attack on road safety problems with a detailed spatial examination, attention to movement and interaction, attention to neighborhood and community and attention to age, sex, ethnic, and class variation that will not only tell us just what progress we have or have not made. But will give us hard evidence on which to base future policy through which progress can be monitored”, Whitelegg 1986.

2.2 MOST ACCIDENTS HAVE BEEN CAUSED BY A WHOLE LOT OF FACTORS. PROMINENT AMONG THEM ARE AS LISTED BELOW:

1. Over-Speeding: Some times may be due to greediness or the tendency to drive as many turn as possible always want to be at the head of others, without considering the consequences. By so doing them neglect road signs warnings and road traffic regulations and laws. Thus, the risk of some dangerous.

2. Drugs/Alcohol: The side effects of drugs or alcohol our body cannot be over emphasized. These cause drowsiness and finally sleep when during. They lead to wrong calculations and loss of regard to lives of human beings and property of such driver concerned. Some causes excessive alertness and nervousness, loss of control and finally a breakdown of the body system of such person involved.

3. Roads (Road Accidents Immune Delusion Syndrome): Some drivers because they have driven a particular vehicle for years, taxi develop the feeling that they haveovermastered the vehicle and also fully experienced do believe that they cannot be involved in road traffic accident, others or other drivers because of their belief either a shrine, ring, talisman, etc. do believe that they cannot be involved and/or die in road accident, they drive without regard to road traffic regulations and other road users.

4. The Road: The construction of the road matters a lot. Roads with multiple bands experience many accidents. Poorly constructed road witness many accidents e.g. presence of informal bumps, very narrow roads. Roads that are poorly maintained cause a lot of accidents. The absence of road signs also contributes to road accidents e.g to show construction sites, narrow bridges, cross roads, bumps, “T” junction etc.

5. Negligence of road Signs: Most Nigeria drivers are so illiterate that they cannot read road signs and as such endanger their lives and the lives of others and property.

6. Aggression: This is psychological. Also result of or may be due to lack of sleep in the previous night due to one problem or the other. The driver then wake up annoyed and aggressive. He jumps into the vehicle without the morning drills, quarrels with the vehicle passengers, co-drivers and road traffic officers etc. thus the risk of accident victimized and even others.

7. The Weather: This comprises the rain and the sun and their effects on the roads. The rains wet the roads and make them slippery therefore, tyres treads loose grip of the roads and render braking almost impossible as and when desired. The sun heats up the tar on the road which in tam heats up the tyres. When this happens, weak tyres tend to burst very easily. Both conditions cause accidents on our road if not observed.

8. Topography: This includes hilly, rocky forest and savanna areas. Areas where the roads run in between hills particularly with dealing rock constitute a lot danger to road users. Where such exits, viewing distance are shortened, the rocks can fall into the road at any time and cause accidents. Likewise where roads run across forests, trees, and/or their branches, many fall into the road and where this is not noticed in a good time, they can cause serious accidents. Animal shiving is the forests can cross the roads at any time while grazing animals common in the savanna requires can also cause accidents.

9. Carelessness of Pedestrians: The other road user that is seen as the commonest – the pedestrian(s) may out of illiteracy and inexperience in using the road disobey the road traffic sign by crossing when it is not due for him or her to do so. Or cross the busy road without looking left or tight as to see when the road is free for crossing.

10. Foods: It takes many drivers time to understand the effect of some foods on their body. Most eat one type of food because others do. They fail to understand that, while some people or such people will be active after a heavy food, others or themselves imitating feel dull and will be sleeping after such a heavy food and thus, endangering their lives and property while driving.

2.3 SOCIO-ECONOMIC EFFECTS OF ROAD ACCIDENTS

Several aspects of road transport negative impact (road accident) on the society have already been discussed. Some additional negative effects deserve mention. Road accidents have significant effects, which they impact. Adversely on the economic and social welfare of a nation. The effects on the economy usually take the form of costs which under certain circumstance can be measured. Some of these costs; private costs are borne by those responsible for the accident, while others are social in nature in that society as a whole bears them. In this section, the study examines specific effects of road accidents.

1. Traffic hold-up and associated waste: When an accident occurs, the most easily observed effect is a rapidly built-up traffic holdup. In the process, fuel is wasted, engines are overheated, and delays lead to lost business and social opportunities. The direct effect is a showed down and more expansive business transaction.

2. Destruction of motor vehicle: Road accidents usually entail the complete destruction of motor vehicle involved. In some cases, the vehicles are salvaged at considerable cost to owners. In Nigerian environment, accidental vehicles are either left on the scene of accidents indefinitely or are towed away to police stations where they are similarly abandoned. The implication of this practice is that scrap value of such vehicle is lot to the economy and stock of transportation, facilities necessary to move people and goods from place to place is reduced. The opportunities for realizing gains from within integrated economic systems are lost, and the welfare of citizen earlier mentioned corresponding reduced. Loss to the economy arising from road accidents is easily measurable.

3. Destruction of transport infrastructure: Accidents destroy valuable road transport infrastructure whose replacement would cost multiples of the original capital expenditure. These costs are significantly foreign exchange is imported. Components of transport infrastructure that may be damaged include;

i. Roads

ii. Bridges

iii. Culverts etc

Thus, resulting to capital reduction instead of capital accumulation.

4. Destruction of other infrastructure: Road accidents also destroy other infrastructure such as telecommunication poles and wires, electricity poles and transformers, real estate including residential and office buildings. Damage to this infrastructure disrupt electricity supply, telecommunications services and normal office facilities; all these tend to show down normal economic and social transactions with adverse consequences on the quality of life.

5. Short supply of goods: Accidents cause the damage or destruction of goods being transported. The loss reduces total quantity of goods available for consumption by the final consumer(s) and reduces profits for or made by the companies whose goods are destroy. Where insurance cover is provided, cost of damage are passed on the insurance companies thus, reducing their capital gain if the goods are essential for normal subsistence, large scale destruction may necessitate importation which would either place a downward pressure on foreign exchange rates or lead to substantial devaluation of the exchange rate in a system of flexible exchange rates.

6. Medical bills for treating accident victims: Medical bills of accident victims are some of the adverse effect of road accidents. Treatment in the orthopedic hospitals is time-consuming and expensive, after discharge of patients, the ability of such a person to perform duties is usually reduced. This has adverse effect on production in the economy

2.4 STATUTORY FUNCTIONS OF FRSC

The functions of the commission include:

1. Making the high way safer for motorist and other road users.
2. Recommending work and devices designed to eliminate or minimize accidents on the high way and advising the government on what to do about road problem in Nigeria.
3. Educating motorist and members of the public on the importance of discipline on the road.
4. Designing and production of drivers’ license and plate numbers to be used by various road users.
5. Giving prompt attention and care to victim of road accident, conduct researches into the causes of the accident and method of preventing them and putting into use such finding.
6. Determining speed limit for all road users.
7. Providing roadside and mobile clinics for the treatment of accident victims free of charge.

In exercising these functions, the commission shall have the power to arrest and prosecute persons reasonably suspected of having committed any traffic offences. Federal Road Safety Commission of Nigeria is a body that aims at encouraging good driving habits and help reduce and limit the impact of Road traffic accidents. This can be done by:

1. Providing information on how road safety issues can be achieved.

2. Publicizing important governmental and community initiative to help reduce traffic accident and make our roads safer.

3. Regulate and coordinate all road traffic safety management activities through robust data management.

4. Role of government in road safety. In order to achieve the FRSC full mission, the Federal Government and all it stakeholders have the following role to play. The following are the suggested roles if played by the government; accident will be reduced to its beeriest minimum:

(i) Creating awareness about Federal Road Safety: The government will have to increase efforts to promote awareness about the road safety issues and their social economic implications. The strategy to implementing this policy is by rising existing awareness, among stakeholders for planning and promoting road safety and their roles and responsibility.

(ii) Providing enabling legal, institutional and financial environment for road safety: Many government departments as well as various public and private agencies, share the responsibility of the various stakeholders and taking appropriate measures to ensure that the required environment for road safety is in place. Strategy to implement this policy is strengthened and the institutional framework for managing road safety at different levels financing it, is established for a dedicated road safety fund, through providing budgetary support as well as earmarking a percentage of fines collected for violation of motor vehicle related offences for the FRSC.

(iii) Road safety information data base: Detailed analysis of road accidents is essential if the causes of the accident are to be fully understood. At present time, the policy prepares a report for the accident that they are aware of. Accident report requires a precise location of the accident and condition at the time of the accident. Example: weather, road surface, etc. The policy statement for this role is that the government should improve data collection details at the scene of accident, improve the storage and accessibility of all data relevant to an accident such as vehicles involved, road, environment and drivers detail, etc.

(iv) Safer road infrastructure: According to Isabel magazine (1995), who studied driver’s attitudes by a group discussion method which many drivers consider that road improvement, are the main and almost the only condition for road safety. Buchannan (1995) commented on the likely increases in cars in the next 70 years. He wondered how many more roads could be provided to cope with these increase in volume of traffic and concluded that it is impossible to provide adequate roads to contain the volume of traffic. Notwithstanding, the government can undertake additional steps to encourage safety by conscious planning and designing of new road networks as well as rehabilitating road schemes. Nnadede (2005) recommended that the Federal government should increase the number of road signs on the high way as well as on the access roads. Strategies for implementing this policy include: all proposed new and rehabilitation road schemes are to be checked from safety perspective for all types of road users during the planning and designing stages through road safety adult adopt accident reduction strategies for existing roads through black spot improvement programmed, to facilitate improvement of engineers on various road safety aspects through training and dissemination of appropriate road safety knowledge.

(v) Safer vehicles and driving habit: The federal government should take steps to strengthen the system to ensure that safety aspects are built and maintenance of vehicles in line with prevailing international standards in order to minimize adverse safety and environmental effects of vehicles operating on road. Strategies to implement this policy is to encourage setting up of modern driving schools with adequate infrastructure, to set up computerize data base of drivers and vehicles, as per the standardized software developed by the Federal Government.

(vi) The Government will strengthen the system of driver licensing and training to improve the competence and capability of drivers (Strategies to implement policy of this role): To encourage setting up of modern driving schools with adequate infrastructure, to set up computerized software developed by the federal Government.

(vii) Emergency medical services for road accident victims: According to Jacobs and Bardsley (1992), study shows that about 50% of deaths from road collisions occur within a few minutes at scene of the crash or else on the way to a hospital but before arrival. Here the stress on the “Golden Hour’’ that is, the first hour from road accident being critical for the survival of the victim. It is important that all persons involved in road accidents benefit from speedy and effective trauma care and health management. The essential functions of such service would include the provision of rescue operation and administration of first aid at the site of the accident. It aims at improving communication system available with police and other emergency services as a means to reduce response time and also train police, fire and other emergency service such as ambulances and paramedics in basic first aid for road crash victims. A road is a thoroughfare, route or way on land between two places which typically has been parked or otherwise. According to Ado (2007), Nigeria has one of the best and modern transport systems that are highly developed in Africa. rail, road, air and in-land waterways traverse the length and breadth of the country to link the individual commercial agricultural centers. Kogi State road network fall into three categories

1. The trunk “A” roads which is the responsibility of the Federal Government to create and maintained it at all time.
2. The trunk “B” roads are owed and are funded by the state and are within the State metropolis.
3. The trunk “C” road, which are referred to local government roads and are the responsibilities of the local government (Annual abstract of statistics 2001 Edition).

The length of the Federal Government roads in Kogi State is said to vary with time. This variation can be caused by the development or construction of new roads to link other existing one thereby increasing the total length. Rallis (1990) in his examination of safety on roads observed that the number of person killed in road accident has increased very much since the Second World War. This result he obtained by dividing the number in rural and urban accidents and further into car driver and passenger, pedestrians and two wheeled. The number of persons killed in urban transport accident per 1,000,000 passengers per hour is 0.02 for buses, 0.2 for automobiles and for pedestrians but more for cyclists and motorcyclists. Etaghere further emphasized that our road deserve better road signs. This is as a result of the fact that there are strangers on our road who are not used to the road. Epicson (1980) asserted that the ability to make decision in traffic which is both quick and accurate is something that should be cultivated during training. A decision may be worse than useless if it is unduly delayed. Fatter or severe accidents on the road are more frequent than milder accidents. Morple (1979) declared that everybody on the road should drive as if the other chaps were a complete fool. Since there is no way of knowing who is a foolish driver, the best is to act as if tax other driver belong to the category of foolish ones. This will entail large margins of safety, clearance, wide berths and so on. According to John Cohen in his book, causes and prevention of road accidents “says if we had the will, we should find ways, for we cannot assume to the problem of road safety are beyond the wit of man to solve once they are identified. We do not have the will because we are not sufficiently moved by disaster on the road". From the foregoing, the meaning of road accident vary not only in the definitions, nature of the causative agent (human and nonhuman) and state or statues, but also the extent of damage and the degree of response needed input to reducing the effect. In substances they all convey that never ending process of sudden or impromptu incident of collision which calls for careful and mindful road users, dedicated law enforcement agencies, and the like as to reduce loss of live and properties. Whitelegy (1982) defined accident as the product of an unwelcome interaction between two or more moving object or fixed and a moving object. The Oxford Advance Learner’s Dictionary (1989) defined accident as event that happed unexpectedly and causes damage or injury. Onakomaiya (1992) define accident as a chance occurrence, which produce unexpected and unpleasant consequences resulting from unforeseen and often a disastrous event. Mohammed (2005) defines accident as an unexpected happening with a potential to cause injury or damage. Thus, he envisaged accident to have occurred due to simple or multiple causes. He further said that road traffic accident, as the names implies, is a sudden incident or occurrence whose end product is always on loss of lives and properties. He further explained that since road accidents are foreseen and can be avoided, then the task of preventing road traffic accident and ensuring safety on our highway and on the road is a collective responsibility for all drivers, other road users and the traffic enforcement agencies.