Commercial vehicles topped the list of categories of transport vehicles involved in road crashes across Nigeria in the third quarter of 2020 (Q3 ’20), the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reports.
The NBS said that data on the overall 4,893 vehicles involved in road crashes in Q3 ’20 showed that 61 per cent of the vehicles are in the commercial category, which recorded 2,987 cases.
A total of 1,849 or 37.8 per cent are private vehicles while 56 vehicles or 1.1 per cent belong to government.
The statistics bureau which disclosed this in its “Road Transport Data Report (Q3 ’20)”, stated that a total of 3,066 road crashes were recorded during the survey period, suggesting that some accidents involved multiple vehicles.
According to the report, speed violation was the major cause of road crashes in Q3 ’20, accounting for 57.26 per cent of the total figure.
Wrongful overtaking and dangerous driving followed with 297 and 263 cases representing 9.68 per cent and 8.57 per cent respectively, while dangerous overtaking recorded the least figure with four cases.
A total of 1,236 Nigerians died in the road traffic crashes, out of which 1,176 are adults representing 95 per cent, while the remaining 60 account for 5 per cent.
The report further stated that 976 male adult Nigerians lost their lives, representing 79 per cent of those killed, while 200 or 16 per cent are female adult Nigerians.
Male and female children killed are 31 and 29, or 3 per cent and 2 per cent respectively, of the total death recorded.
Categorizing the types of major vehicles involved, the report stated that Car (1,481) topped the list with 30.30 per cent followed by Motorcycle (1,105) and Minibus (757) accounting for 22.60 per cent and 15.50 per cent, respectively.
Truck, tricycle and trailer recorded 682, 226, 210 cases; or 13.9 per cent, 4.6 per cent and 4.3 per cent respectively of the total vehicles involved.
The highest number of road crash occurred in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) with 433 cases, followed by Ogun and Kaduna states which recorded 414 and 297 cases, respectively.
States with the lowest accident record are Borno 14, Bayelsa 24 and Imo 25.
In the case of Nigerians killed in road crashes during the survey period, Kaduna recorded 102, followed by Ogun 88 and Oyo 64.
Rivers, Taraba and Akwa Ibom recorded the least number of Nigerians who lost their lives in road crashes during the survey period with 3, 5 and 6 cases, respectively.
Thompson Ayeni, a transport expert, attributed the high rate of road crash among commercial vehicles to Nigeria’s poorly organized business environment, poor road infrastructure, bad driving behaviour and poorly maintained vehicles.
He also noted that the hard economic environment has pushed many into a life of struggle that compels them to take all sorts of risks to eke out a living.
“We do not have an organized business environment and that reflects on the quality of commercial vehicles that ply our roads to convey people and goods from one destination to the other.
“The attitude of the motorists and their poorly maintained vehicles also contribute to the carnage on our roads involving mainly commercial vehicles,” Ayeni said in a telephone chat.
