Let me begin by extending
my deep sense of gratitude to the National Association of Seadogs, Asaba Branch,
for inviting me to participate in this year’s Annual Feast of Barracuda, with
discussion topic: Driver Education: A Means of Reducing Road Crashes, which
shall put in context the unsafe nature of our roads globally.
Road traffic crashes have become a normal and reoccurring
phenomenon particularly in Nigeria. Although both the developed and developing
nations of theworld have suffered from varying degrees of road traffic crashes,
the statistics from developing countries are alarming.
Loss of output and
economic loss to the economy.Road Traffic Injuries and Deaths: A Global
Problem Throughout the world, roads are shared by cars, buses, trucks,
motorcycles,pedestrians, animals, taxis and other categories of travelers.· Injuries· Loss of life·Road traffic crashes
are a major concern because of:
Travel made possibleby motor vehicles supports economic and
social development in many countries.Yet each year, these vehicles are involved
in crashes that are responsible for millions of deaths and injuries.
The World Health Organization’s Global Status Report on Road
Safety provides anoverview of the road safety situation globally. The Report is
an official tool for 1 monitoring the United Nation Decade of Action for Road
Safety, 2011 to 2020, which aims to reduce road traffic crashes by 50% across
board.
According to the 2015 Report, more than 1.25 million people die
each year as aresult of road traffic crashes and between 20 and 50 million more
people suffer non-fatal injuries. Nearly half of those dying on the world’s
roads are “vulnerable road users”: pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists.
The report also reveals that people aged between 15 and 44 years
account for 48% of global road traffic deaths,whilst road traffic injuries are
a leading cause of death among people aged between15 and 29 years. More than
90% of the world's fatalities on the roads occur in low-and middle-income
countries, even though these countries have approximately 54% of the world's
vehicles and the road traffic injury death rate are highest in the African
region. Road traffic crashes cost most countries about 3% of their gross
domestic product.
It is believed that without sustained action, road traffic
crashes are predicted to become the seventh leading cause of death by 2030.
Having thrown light on the global trend in road traffic crashes,
let’s bring our attention to the situation in Nigeria. According to the
National Bureau of Statistics(NBS), 11, 363 road traffic crashes were recorded
in 2016.
Speed violation was reported as the major causes of road traffic
crashes, accounting for 33.86 per centof the total. The other two major cause
of road traffic crashes were loss of control and dangerous driving accounting
for 15.43 per cent and 8.53 per cent respectively of the total road traffic
crashes recorded.
The National Bureau of Statistics also revealed that a total of
5,053 persons were killed, while 30,105 persons were injured in the road
traffic crashes recorded in 2016.
For 2017, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) revealed that
no fewer than 3,743 people died in road traffic crashes in the first three
quarters (January to September).
According to NBS figures, 1,466 people died in the first quarter
(January to March), 1,207 in the second quarter (April to June) and 1,070 in
the third quarter (July to September).
The NBS report showed that a total of 7,537 road accidents
occurred between January and September 2017. A breakdown of their report showed
that the first quarter recorded 2,556 road traffic crashes, 2,503 in second
quarter, and 2,478 in2 the third quarter.
As in 2016, the major causes of road traffic crashes were speed
violation, loss of control, and dangerous driving.
The global and Nigeria road traffic crash data presented above
are very worrisome.In order to reduce fatal crashes and reduce serious
injuries, adoption of stringent driver education and testing regime should be
the starting point.
Driver education will result in some driving and riding
behavioural attitude changes and will go along way in reducing road traffic
crashes, as shown by statistics from developed countries.
Causes of Road Traffic Crashes
The main causes of road traffic crashes as contained in the Nigeria Police and
FRSC Road Crash Reports are categorised into three main headings:
1. Driver and Human Error (85% or more):
This is the most prevalent contributingfactor of road traffic crashes, e.g.
over speeding, worn out tyres, over loading, baddriving habits, fatigue, under
influence of drugs and alcohol, use of seat belt, improper overtaking, lack of
or poor judgment, inexperience of drivers, driver’s carelessness at junctions,
traffic law violations, etc.
The ease with which drivers’licences can be procured in Nigeria
ensures the steady supply of unskilled drivers on her roads.
2. Road Network and Infrastructure:
Bad roads, poor road design, lack of maintenance, lack of or inadequate road
and traffic signs and road markings, etc.
3. Vehicle Maintenance:
Poor vehicle maintenance, road worthiness of vehicles, environmental issues,
etc.
As indicated above driver or human error, which is also seen as
driver behaviour, is the most dominant cause and constitute over 85% of all
road traffic crashes.
The full understanding of the act of driving would therefore
play a key role in reducing road traffic crashes.
In this vain, the structured training of driving instructors and
drivers is paramount. As over 85% of road traffic crashes are as a result of
human or driver error, then well trained drivers will eventually bring the
number road crashes down, as they would have full grasp of the 'rules of the
road’.
3 GLOBAL CRASH DATA
Country Population Registered Vehicles (Million) Annual Road Fatalities
Fatalities Per 100,000 Population Estimated GDP Loss (%)Sweden 9.6 m 5.8 272 3 1. Singapore 8.4m 0.97 197 4 0. Norway 5m
3.7 192 4 1. Netherlands 16.8m 9.6 574 3 2. Japan 127.1m 91.4 5,971 5 1.
Germany 82.7m 52.4 3,540 4 1. France 64.3m 42.8 3,268 5 1. Finland 5.4m 5.9 258
5 2USA 320.1m 265 34,064 11 2UK 63.1m 35.6 1,827 3 1. China 1.4billion 250.1
261,367 19 0. Nigeria 173.6 5.8 35,651 21 3. Ghana 25.9 1.5 6,789 26 2. Kenya
44.4 2.0 12,891 29 0. South Africa 52.8 9.9 13,273 25 8.
Source: World Health Organisation Global Status Report on Road Safety, 2015.
United Nation Action.
One of the goals of the United Nations Decade of Action for Road
Safety is the reduction of road fatalities by 2020 and according to the road
safety action plan; this can be achieved by increased funding and increased
national and local prevention efforts using successful experiences from other
countries.
The national activities aimed at actualizing the action plan
are: Road Safety Management; Safer Roads and Mobility (road construction,
maintenance and road furniture); Safe Vehicles (road worthiness of vehicles -
yearly vehicle testing), Safer Road Users (promote establishment of Graduated
Driver Licensing systems for novice drivers.); and Post-Crash Response
(emergencies and rehabilitation of crash victims).
4. Best Practice Approach: Case Study of United Kingdom.
Now let us look at the successful experience of the United Kingdom in the
reduction of road traffic through driver education.
From the table above, deaths from road traffic crashes per
100,000 population in the United Kingdom is put at 3, whilst Nigeria is 21.
The Train the Trainer approach has been adopted in achieving the
reduction in road traffic crashes.The Register of Approved Driving Instructors
was set up as a voluntary scheme in the 1960s, becoming mandatory in 1970, in
the interest of improving road safety by maintaining and improving the standard
of car driving instruction available to the general public.
It ensures that the public can rely upon an acceptable minimum
standard of tuition from registered driving instructors. The Driver and Vehicle
Standards Agency (DVSA) is an executive agency of the Department for
Transport(DfT) DVSA which sets the standards for drivers and vehicles in the
United Kingdom. Driving instructor training although not obligatory in the
United Kingdom, but inpractice driving instructor candidates need some form of
training in order to pass the test.
Any qualified driving instructor can provide training to novice
drivers and potential driving instructors.
To become a driving instructor in the United kingdom, you
undergo a qualifying process, and the examination for entry onto the Register
is composed of three parts:
Test of theoretical
knowledge·
Test of driving ability·
Test of instructional ability·
Driving instructors are admitted into Approved Driving
Instructors (ADI) Register after passing the three examinations. After being
admitted onto the register of Approved Driving Instructors, there is an ongoing
training /and testing for driving instructors.
To remain on the register, driving instructors are re-tested,
known as the Standards Check Test. 5
In addition, there is a voluntary register, ORDIT (Official
Register for Driving Instructor Training) set up for those involved in training
driving instructors in aneffort to improve the standard of training available
to potential driving instructors.
Reducing Road Traffic Crashes in Nigeria: The Way Forward.
The road traffic crashes statistics presented above is unacceptable and we must
definitely be doing something wrong along the line. The way forward is to study
why the road traffic deaths are very low in some countries, and find ways to
adopting and localising their success stories in Nigeria.
Whilst other countries adopt a stringent driver training and
testing regimes as a way of tackling road traffic crashes, in Nigeria, we are
more concerned with enforcement which have not yielded the needed results. This
policy has not worked and there must be a rethink.
Presently in Nigeria, there are three agencies are involved in
the processing of driver’s licence, namely, the State Board of Internal Revenue
(BIR); Federal Capital Territory and State Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIO);
and the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC).
The relevant regulation which spells out the procedure for
driver’s licence is the National Road Traffic Regulations, 2012. The procedure
for fresh (new) driver's licence is as follows:
1. Applicant attends training at accredited driving school for
at least twenty six(26) days
2. The Driving school will present the applicant to the Vehicle
Inspection Officer (VIO) for driving test.
3. The applicant must pass the driving test and the Vehicle
Inspection Officer(VIO) will issue a Certificate of Proficiency.
4. The applicant should apply in person at Driver's Licence
Centre (DLC) by completing the necessary application form.
5. The applicant to pay the driver’s licence fee online via
pay4me or directly through the platform at any bank.
6. The applicant will then submit the completed forms to the
State Board of Internal Revenue or VIO at the Drivers Licence Centre for endorsement
collect payment receipt for State Board of Internal Revenue.
7. Proceed to the Federal Road Safety Corps Officer at the DLC
for Biometric Data Capture 6
8. After the biometric exercise, applicants will obtain
temporary driver’s licence valid for sixty (60) days and pick up the original
driver’s licence at the State Board of Internal Revenue office after sixty (60)
days.
As our present approach seems not to be reducing road traffic
crashes to anacceptable level, my suggested approach and way forward should be
the creation of an Executive Agency (Driving Standards and Implementation
Agency - DSIA), to be saddled with the responsibility for:
Preparing curriculum for
the training of Driving Instructors and Driver Educators.·
Maintaining a register of
Driving Instructors and Driver Educators.·
Preparing curriculum for the training of Novice/Learner Drivers.·
Conducting the qualifying
examinations (theory, practical and instructional techniques) for entry in the
register of Driving Instructors and Driver Educators.·
Collaborating with VIOs
nationwide to conduct the theory and practical driving tests for Novice/Learner
Drivers in all categories of vehicles.Issuance of drivers’ licence should still
be under the purview of the Federal·
Road Safety Commission (FRSC), based on pass information of
driving test provide by Driving Standards and Implementation Agency (DSIA) and
Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIOs).
The question that might be asked is how do we fund the new
approach? It will interest us to note that the GDP of Nigeria in 2016 was put
at $337 billion. Fromthe table above, our estimated GDP loss from road traffic
crashes is put at 3%, which shows that in 2016 we lost in the region of $10.11
billion, that is about N2,022 billion (over N2 trillion) using a CBN exchange
rate of $1 to N199.3 as at 3/12/2015.
A 1% GDP loss at the same period is put at about $3.37 billion,
that is about N674 billion. A fraction of the GDP losses can be ploughed into
setting upthe Driving Standards and Implementation Agency, with the aim of
reducing road traffic crashes to the barest minimum and at the same time
increasing our GDP as there will be fewer deaths on Nigeria roads.
Thank you for listening.
Comments
Post a Comment