Road Safety Nigeria

The First Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety held under the auspices of the United Nations has called for the declaration of the decade 2011-2020 as ‘the decade of action for road safety’. This was included in the resolutions reached at the end of the Conference held in Moscow, Russia on 19 and 20 November, 2009.

The Shell Petroleum Development Company has teamed up with the African Artists’ Foundation (AAF) to sponsor a photography exhibition in Lagos to highlight the issue of road safety in Nigeria. The exhibition is entitled Driver Dexterity and features images of the hazards faced when driving in Nigeria.  It’s planned that the exhibition will run until 30 December 2009.

A specialist magazine for the trucking and logistics sector in Nigeria was recently launched in Lagos.   The launch event saw the participation of representatives from various stakeholders including the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) and the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport.

In view of the recent amendments to the Road Traffic Act and other ancillary laws, senior officials of LASTMA and FRSC, on Wednesday, 25 March, 2009 gave talks on Transport Safety in general and immediate consequences of the amendments as  a guide to managing encounters with LASTMA / FRSC officials.  The talks took place in Addax Petroleum’s Head Office in Victoria Island, Lagos.

Summary of the presentation on Transport Safety

• Give correct, adequate and advance notice about your intentions to other road users.
• Do not assume anything you cannot see for yourself.
• Be prepared for unexpected and unsignalled stopping.
• Never assume another driver’s response will be the same as yours in any given situation.
• Never assume other drivers are as skillful as you.
• Always wear your seat-belt.
• Drive at an appropriate speed for the road conditions.
• Bear in mind that the aim of being on the road is to move from one place to the other safely.
• Avoid getting into situations where your safety depends on the response of another driver or vehicle.
• Always be aware of your area of safety.
• Always anticipate possible dangers.

A petrol tanker has crashed into a bus carrying a group of women to a Palm Sunday church service killing 19 people. The minibus was pulling out of a petrol station when it was hit by the tanker in Benue state. Seventeen people were killed instantly and two more died in hospital later. The driver of the petrol tanker was taken to hospital in a critical condition.

Over the last few months the content on the official Nigerian Federal Road Safety Commission web site has been extended to include, among other things, additional safety information relating to speeding, seat-belt use and motorcycle helmet use.

The ‘little white lie’ that grew, and grew, and grew …

After telling a lie to get out of paying a small fine and incurring a single penalty point on his licence for exceeding the speed limit by 6 miles per hour (10 kilometres per hour) a former, senior Australian judge digs himself into an increasingly deep ‘hole’ with the eventual prospect that he could spend at least two years in prison.

Read more about this story on the BBC website at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7967982.stm

It may sound like stating the obvious, but, as you drive along, the tyres are the only part of the vehicle in contact with the road.  Consequently, they affect the steering, braking and acceleration of your vehicle.  A badly maintained or damaged tyre is also more prone to getting punctured while driving, with the associated risk of loss of control of the vehicle.

Advice to Drivers

• Check tyre pressures regularly. (This should be done when the tyres are cold, as even a short journey can raise tyre temperatures and pressures.)
• Replace tyres that have developed bulges, lumps, cuts or tears.
• Replace tyres where the tread has worn below the limit.  (Some tyres have tread wear indicators, usually six or more small ribs across the bottom of the main tread grooves. When the tread surface is level with these ribs, the tyre needs to be replaced.)
• Use the correct type of tyres for your vehicle.

One month after the death of nine female footballers in a road crash, another accident claims the lives of eleven players and three officials of Jimeta United Football Club of Yola.

Sixteen players and three officials from Jimeta United Football Club were travelling from Yola to Abuja for a match with Voice of Nigeria Football Club. At Hawa Tido, a few kilometres from Jos, the driver lost control and the team bus crashed into a gully, killing most of the passengers.

(On 21 December 2008, nine female footballers from the Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau State perished in a road traffic accident.)