Violation of speed limit has been identified as the major cause of road accidents in the country, accounting for 50.81 percent of the total 2,482 road crashes that was reported in the first quarter of 2018. This is according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on road transport.
Tyre burst and dangerous driving followed closely as they both accounted for 8.26 percent and 8.4 percent of the total road crashes recorded.
According to NBS, a total of 8,466 Nigerians got injured in the road traffic crashes recorded.
Of this figure, 7,773 representing 92 percent are adults while the remaining 693 Nigerians, representing 8 percent of the figure are children.
6,394 male Nigerians, representing 76 percent, got injured in road crashes in Q1 while 2,072 female Nigerians, representing 24 percent got injured.
In terms of states with the highest number of people involved in road crashes, Abuja, Kaduna, Ogun, Oyo and Ondo topped the league at 1513, 1487, 987 and 900 respectively.
Rivers, Cross Rivers, Borno, Kebbi and Ekiti on the other hand accounted for the least number of people at 18, 55, 63, 109 and 116 respectively.
Similarly, a total of 1,292 Nigerians got killed in the road traffic crashes that were recorded in Q1 2018.
1,186 of the 1,292 representing 92 percent are adults while the remaining 106 Nigerians, representing 8 percent of the figure are children.
1,008 male Nigerians, representing 78 percent, got killed in road crashes in Q1 while 284 female Nigerians, representing 22 percent got killed.
NBS said that the estimated vehicle population in Nigeria as at Q1 2018 was put at 11,653,871 with the total population of the country puts at 198 million in 2018. Nigeria’s vehicle per population ratio is put 0.06.
Data on the category of vehicles involved in road crashes in Q1 2018 reflected that 60.3 percent of vehicles are commercial (2,330), 38.30 percent are private (1,480), 1.35 percent are government (52) and the diplomat with two (2) vehicle involved.
A total of 223,107 national drivers licenses were produced in Q1 2018, with Lagos and FCT producing the highest number while Ekiti and Kebbi States produced the least numbers of national drivers’ license.
