On Tuesday, May 10, 2023, the Corps Marshal of
the Federal Road Safety Corps in Nigeria, Mr.
Dauda Biu, revealed that there
were 2,733 road crashes in the country between January and March of the same
year. These crashes resulted in the loss of 1,441 lives, while 8,339 other
people were injured. Biu addressed a one-day stakeholders meeting in Abuja,
where he spoke about the importance of developing and implementing policies on
pre-fitted speed limiting devices in both locally-assembled and imported
vehicles.
Mr. Biu expressed concern that over 89% of the
crashes that occurred were speed-induced, which is a worrying trend. He noted
that this was not just a Nigerian problem, but a global issue, as speeding has
been a significant contributing factor to road crashes, injuries, and deaths
worldwide. As a result, the Federal Road Safety Corps had been seeking a
lasting solution to the problem as behavioral and attitudinal change methods
alone could not bring the desired results.
The UN Decade of Action (2021-2030) on road
safety encouraged the FRSC to prioritize safer vehicles, as it is believed that
if good mobility can be achieved through the design and manufacturing of
vehicles, the number of crashes will reduce on Nigerian roads. The Corps
Marshal explained that the fatalities from road crashes have led to global
campaigns for mitigation, and the strategy is to apply cost-effective
technology that can regulate speed to national thresholds. The result was the
installation of speed-limiting devices in vehicles.
Mr. Biu expressed regret that attempts made in
the past to enforce the policy on the installation of speed-limiting devices in
commercial vehicles have witnessed several postponements. He stated that
President Muhammadu Buhari had approved the policy on April 1, 2016, but the
need for advocacy delayed its implementation until October 1, 2016. Since then,
only 173,573 vehicles have been installed with speed limiters between October
1, 2016, and April 30, 2023, which is an inadequate number. Mr. Biu stressed
that the FRSC had proposed the development and implementation of pre-fitted
speed-limiting devices for all vehicles assembled in Nigeria and those imported
into the country.
