Samuel Bello, Abuja
Reports from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) revealed that 2,482 road crashes occurred in the first quarter of 2018. Speed violation was reported as the major cause of road crashes and it accounted for 50.81 percent of the total road crashes reported.
It also reported that tyre burst and dangerous driving followed closely as they both accounted for 8.26 percent and 8.42 percent of the total road crashes recorded.
NBS, in its road transport data report released yesterday in Abuja, stated that a total of 8,466 Nigerians got injured in the road traffic crashes recorded. 7,773 of the 8,466 Nigerians that got injured, representing 92 percent of the figure, 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 the first quarter of 2018, while 2,072 female Nigerians, representing 24 percent got injured.
The bureau stated that in the first quarter of 2018, a total of 1,292 Nigerians got killed in the road traffic crashes recorded in the first quarter of 2018.
“1,186 of the 1,292 Nigerians that got killed, representing 92 percent of the figure, 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.
“Estimated vehicle population in Nigeria as at Q1 2018 was put at 11,653,871 with the total population of the country puts at 198,000,000 in 2018. Nigeria’s vehicle per population ratio is put 0.06.
According to NBS, data on the category of vehicles involved in road crashes in the first quarter of 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. Lagos and FCT produced the highest number of drivers’ licenses while Ekiti and Kebbi States produced the least numbers of national drivers’ license.