Choice of Residential Locations in Selected Urban Centres in South-WesternNigeria• Ajala, O. A. and Olayiwola, A. M , · 1

The Effect of Mobile Phones (GSM) Usage on Travel Behaviour of Residents inIkeja LocalGovernment Area of Lagos State, Nigeria- Olawale Fadare and B. T. Salami 15

'. The Effects of Urban Upgrading on Housing Quality ill Lagos Island, Nigeria- Sanni, Lekan and Iyanda, Oladimeji ; : 26

. Neglected Issues in Road Crashes in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Example ofNigeria- Ipingbemi Olusiyi 39 .

r,

Residents Perception' of the Socio-Economic Impact of Polo Recreational Par kon Enugu Metropolis, Nigeria

.- Omisore, Emmanuel Olufemi and Okeke, Elizabeth Ifeyinwa 52"t'

Ratification: Mode of Seeming Tenure Within Government Acquired Land inLagos Sta te, Nigeria- Alabi, Moruf; Bello, K. Ajide and Omirin, 0. M ; 66

Property Void and Ethnic Differentiation in Okota Rental Housing Market- Oladokun, Timothy Tunde , 85

The State of Rural Healthcare Facilities in Nigeria'. S.A. Adeyinka : 95

Waste Handling Practices at Abattiors: Experience From De-He, Nigeria- S. O. Fadare and A. O. Afon : 111

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rr;

(tft(I!-N Sfb1/ »:/1J -- 0'1,- ..-7.. 0 J 2. .

ato '3 q../-q7 375

EDITORIAL BOARD

Editor in ChiefProf. S. O. Fadare

Editorial SecretaryA. O. Afon(ph.D)

Managing.E. O. Omisore (ph.D)

EDITORIAL ADVISERSProf. Olu. Aloba Department of Geography,

Obafemi Awolowo University

Prof. L. M. Olayiwola Department of Urban and Regional Planning,Obafemi Awolowo University

Prof. Eno Okoko - Department of Urban and Regional PlanningFederal University of Technology, Akure.

Prof. A. A. Adedibu - Department of Urban and Regional Planning,Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso

Prof. Tunde Agbola - Department of Urban and Regional PlanningUniversity of lbadan, lbadan.

Prof. Leke Oduwaye Department of Urban and Regional Planning, .University of Lagos, Akoka.

Prof. Ayo Ajayi. - Department of Estate Management,Obafemi Awolowo University

Published by:Department of Urban and Regional PlanningObafeml Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria.

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'-'"1"""-'l ,,:'. i

~

I :; •••• i

I jIFE PLANNING JOURNAL

Volume 4: No.1, March, 2011

TABLE OF CONTENT

Choice of Residential Locations in Selected Urban Centres in South-Western Nigeria-Ajala, O. A. and Olayiwola, A. M : 1

The Effect of Mobile Phones (GSM) Usage on Travel Behaviour ofResidents in Ikeja Local Government Area of Lagos State; ~igeria- Olawale Fadare and B. T. Salami , 15

~

The Effects of Urban Upgrading on Housing Quality in Lagos Island,Nigeria• Sanni, Lekan and Iyanda, Oladimeji ' 26

Neglected Issues in Road Crashes in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Exampleof Nigeria- Ipingbemi Olusiyi 39

Residents' Perception of the Socio-Economic Impact of PoloRecreational Park on Enugu Metropolis, Nigeria- Omisore, Emmanuel Olufemi and Okeke, Elizabeth Ifeyinwa 52

Ratification: Mode of Securing Tenure Within Government AcquiredLand in Lagos State, Nigeria .": Alabi, Moruf; Bello, K Ajide and Omirin, O. M : 66

Property Void and Ethnic Differentiation in Okota Rental HousingMarket ,- Oladokun, Timothy Tunde 85

The State of Rural Healthcare Facilities in Nigeria- S.A. Adeyinka 95"

Waste Handling Practices at Abattiors: Experience From Ile-Ife, Nigeria- S. O. Fadare and A. O. Afon ; 111

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NEGLECTED ISSUES IN ROAD CRASHES IN SUB·'SAHARAN AFRICA: THE EXAMPLE OF NIGERIA

IPINGBEMI OlusiyiDepartment of Urban and Regional Planning,

Faculty of the Social Sciences,University of Ibadan,

Ibadan, Nigeria

ABSTRACTRoad crash is a global problem. It is more serious in Sub-Sahara Africa, especially inNigeria because road transport account for more than 80% of the total traffic and roadsafety measures are poorly developed. Road traffic crashes in Nigeria have claimedmany lives and rendered several people permanently injured. In spite of the wastedhuman resources and debilitating effect of road crashes on the socio-economicdevelopment of the country, some efforts which would have reversed the trend andlessened this burden are either neglected or ignored. These -include among others,training of drivers in the use of first aid technique, building of road side clinics,insurance and. compensation, Road Safety Fund as well as under- reporting of themagnitude and significance of road crash figures. The paper calls for the use of. computer technology in the collation and analysis of road crash statistics, training ofcommercial drivers in First Aid techniques and the establishment of Nigerian RoadSafety Emergency Service as well as Road Safety Fund. It must however be backed upwith strong political will from the government and devoid of corruption. This is expectedto bring about reduction in road carnage onNigerian roads as well as ameliorating thesocio-economic burden of road crasb victims.

IntroductionGlobally, more than 3,000 people

die daily as a result of road crashes whileabout 15,000 others are disabled for life(World Bank / WHO,' 2004). Thistranslates to annual deaths of 1.2millionmen, women and children around theworld and over 50 million injuries.

. Presently, about 90% of road' deaths arerecorded in developing countries that haveonly 35% of the world's vehicles (Sida,2006), An extreme case is the Africancontinent, with only 4% of the total globalvehicle population but 10% of all roadtraffic fatalities (GTKP, 2007a).

Sub-Sahara Africa is a region withthe worst death rate from road crashes. Forinstance,. at least 1000,000 people arekilled in the region every year with fatalityrate of 28 deaths per 100,000 population

or 100 deaths per 10,000 vehicles (Winnet,2007). Worst still, road crashes are thesecond highest cause of deaths for the 15to 44 years age group in Sub-SaharaAfrica, and the economic costs isestimated at $10 billion annually or 2% ofGNP (CGRS, 2006). On the average morethan 65% of the road crash victims inKenya, Nigeria and Ghana are between theages of 15-50 years (Odero et al, 2003;Ipingbemi, 2006; Amegashie, 2007). Oncurrent trends, road fatalities in Sub-Sahara Africa will increase by 80% by2020. In Nigeria, road crashes are a majorhealth problem which has claimed severallives and rendered many othershandicapped. The trend has been on the

. increase in the last few years.. Besides these human and economic \

costs, the socio-economic burden of road'

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crashes is very heavy. Road crashes slowdown economic-development andperpetuate poverty. At household level,road crashes place a severe financialstrains on families, who often have toabsorb the direct medical, andrehabilitation costs as well as indirectcosts created bya victim's inability to.continue earning. Poor families aredisproportionately burdened by roadcrashes, particularly when the injured orkilled is a bread winner in the family. Atthe national level, road traffic crashesplace a heavy burden on the country'seconomy through both direct and indirectimpacts. However, accurate data on thenumber of road crash casualties is hardlyavailable due to under or non- reporting ofroad crashes, which has rendered most ofthe solutions proffered in recent timesineffective. The problem of road crashvictims is compounded in Sub-SaharaAfrica especially in Nigeria by the factthat the third party vehicle insurancecoverage is either poor or non-existent.Victims and their families are often leftwithout compensation for injury or loss.This is further exacerbated by poor accessto medical care and rehabilitation leadingto reduced chances of recovery or evensurvival. Therefore, the cost of road trafficinjuries to the poor reduces the fundsavailable for health and educationalservices among others; thereby. constraining their opportunities to moveout of poverty.

In spite of these human resourcesdepletion and socio-economic burden of.road crashes in sub-Sahara Africa, variousissues that are capable of reversing. thetrend or ameliorating the burden of roadcrashes in the region are either grosslyunder-emphasized or completelyneglected. These include awareness on the.magnitude of the problem, insurance and

compensation; post trauma care, roadsafety fund as well as poor reporting ofroad crashes. In developed countries thelevel of awareness of road crashes magnitudeis very high due to better publicity.Information on the trend, pattern and severityof road crashes as well as the socio-economicand health implications are provided in bothelectronic and print media. Current road crash .statistics for United States of America, United

I

Kingdom, and Canada etc can be downloadedfrom the internet. In most developingcountries recent road crash statistics are not.easily accessible. In Nigeria, road crash datacan only be obtained now at the nationalheadquarters of Federal Road SafetyCommission (FRSC). This hampers effectivedissemination of. information on road trafficcrashes and their implications on the economy.

Similarly, compliance with vehicleinsurance policy is very high in developed andemerging economies. This is achieved becauseinsurance is a pre-condition for issuing vehiclelicense. Also, the manner of collection makesit mandatory for. motorists to take up vehicleinsurance policy. For instance, in Australia,the premiums is collected as part of the annualvehicle license .where as in Canada (BritishColumbia) one agency is. responsible for theadministration of vehicle license and insurance(Aeron-Thornas, 2(02). With respect tocompensation, the Accident CompensationCommission (ACC) of New Zealand pays the.treatment costs of road crash victims (injuredor dead) (ACC, 2009). Such treatment costsinclude among others surgery, x-rays andprescription costs. In Victoria, Australia, theTransport Accident Commission (TAC) wasset up to pay medical costs and other services. for people injured on Victorian roads. TheTAC starts to make payment when the victimshave incurred treatment to the value of $5641(N84,600) either in private or public hospital(TAC, 2(09). However, if a victim stays inthe hospital throughout the day or overnight,TAC pays for all treatment costs even if theamount incurred is not up to $564. Similarly,in South Africa, the Road Accident Fund(RAP) pays compensation for losses suffered

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due to bodily injuries sustained or death of aperson on the road to the tune of R25, 000(South Africa, RAF, 2(09).

Furthermore, under-reporting or non-reporting of deaths and injuries resulting fromroad crashes is a global problem affecting notonly low and middle income countries but alsohigh ones (Nakahara and Wakai, 2(01).Although the percentage is higher indeveloping economies compared to developedcountries. For instance, where as around 20%. of the incidents reported to the police indeveloped countries remain unrecorded, thelevels of under-reporting in low and middle .income counties is as high as 50% ( WorldBanklWHO, 2004). In terms of post traumacare, developed and some developingcountries have robust and comprehensive post-crash management. For example, in Iranand Vietnam first aid posts arepermanently staffed all year round (BRe,2001). In Tunisia, Saudi Arabia andBolivia, special posts are set up along theroads during religious events, This iscomplemented by sophisticated servicesprovided by road side clinics, healthinstitutions and rehabilitation centres. MostAfrican countries do not have the fmancialoutlay to embark on such sophisticated post-crash care. .

Also, only few countries have fundspecifically dedicated to finance road crash. activities (conduct research, finance publicityand pay compensation etc.). New Zealand;(Accident Compensation Commission),Australia (Transport Accident Commission),South Africa (Road Accident Fund), Fiji andNamibia have dedicated road safety' Fund;which is financed mostly by a levy on petrol.African road safety organizations in Ethiopia,Zambia and Ghana receive SOQlefunds fromtheir National Road Fund2 because they do nothave dedicated road safety fund (GTZ, 2006).This paper, therefore, provides an insightinto these issues and shows how to reduceroad carnage and the burden' of roadcrashes in Nigeria. .

. .Trend of Road Crashes in NigeriaData on trend of road crashes in

Sub-Sahara Africa is very difficult tocome by due to poor records and the littleimportance attached to data in the region;Therefore,' the trend is basically onNigeria. The alarming rate of road crashesin Nigeria has reached a worrisome level.In actual fact, it is now regarded as ahealth problem. Deaths arid injuriessustained from traffic crashes have beenenormous, For instance, between 1960 and2007 about 1 million cases of road crasheswere reported. 297,619 pers~ns werekilled while 887,883 others were seriouslyinjured during the period (NBS 2005,Osita 2(08). This represented an increaseof 353% and 105% for fatalities andinjuries respectively between the periodsof analysis.

A decade analysis shows that inthe first decade. (1960-1969), 151,237cases of road crashes were reported,killing 18,748 persons with 104,825people seriously injured. In the seconddecade (1970-1979) reported cases of roadcrashes increased by 82.9% while roaddeaths and injuries also increased by204.7% and 99.5% respectively. Deathtolls in the third decade (1980-1989) wentup by 37.9% compared to the seconddecade figure.' However, injuries from. road . crashes decreased .marginally by0.23%. In the fourth decade (1990-2000),both fatalities and injuries witnessed aslight reduction. Persons killed in roadcrashes came down by 7.5% while thosewho sustained injury also dropped by7.8%. ill the first seven years of the fifthdecade (2001-2007), 43,535 people losttheir lives while about. 135,000 otherssustained various degrees of injuries in91,020 cases of road crashes. Thereduction in the early nineties, however,might not be unconnected with theactivities of the Federal Road Safety

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Commission (FRSC) which wasestablished in 1988 to ensure safety onNigerian highways. A ten year interval of

road crash casualties m Nigeria is :presented in figures 1-3.

10000900080007000

J 6000

~5000

u, 4000.30002000100(}

01960 1990 2000 20071970 1980

Year

Fig 1:A ten-year trend of road fatalities in Nigeria between 1960 and 2007

300002500020000

(/)Q)"C 15000::l"2

100005000

01960 . 1970 1980 1990 2000 2007

Year

Fig 2: A ten- year trend of road injuries in Nigeria between 1960 and 2007

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350003000025000

l3 '20000(J)

~ 15000100005000o

1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2007Year

Fig 3: A ten-year trend of road crash cases in Nigeria between 1960 and 2007

In Tanzania, fatalities from roadcrashes increased from 1483 deaths to1583 between 1993 and 1998 while inGhana deaths from road crashes rose by15% between 2001 and 2005 (Rwebangira et al·1999 and Appiah, 2007).Winnet (2007) also observed in Botswanathat fatalities from road crashes increasedby nearly 400% in the last 30 years.

Human error has been singled outas the most important factor, in road crashcausation in Sub-Sahara Africa. Forinstance, 76% of the road crashes inTanzania in 1998 was traceable to humanerror. Similarly, about 84% of roadcrashes in Kenya between 1994 and 2004were as a result of human behaviuor(Magolo and Mitullah, 2007). Asrat (2007)also found in Ethiopia that in 2005 that. 81% of road crashes was due to drivers'error. In Nigeria, human error contributessignificantly to road crashes in the'country. Onakomaiya (1981) in his studyof the causes of road crashes in Nigeriashowed that human error accounted formore than 73%. At the regional or statelevel the situation is not different. Forinstance, 'Mukoro (1986) in hisexamination of the main causes of road

traffic crashes in Kaduna State between1975 and 1976 observed that about 80% ofthe road traffic crashes·were due to humanerror; He listed such human errors as over-speeding, drunkenness and low level ofeducation in understanding road signs andmarkings as major factors. Other studies inOyo, Ogun and Abuja showed similarresults (see Jegede, 1985; Oduola 1987;Oyeyemi 2002 respectively).

Neglected Issues in Road TrafficCrashes in Nigeria.

The issues addressed here pertainto the magnitude of the problem beingemphasized, insurance and compensation,first aid techniques and road side clinics aswell as road safety funds.

Under-emphasizing the Magnitude ofthe Problem.

A hidden epidemic of deaths andinjuries from road traffic crashes 'isgrowing in the world today. 'Fordeveloping countries, particularly inAfrica, road traffic deaths and injuriesconstitute a serious health problembecause the continent has the mostdangerous roads in the world resulting in

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extremely high rate of fatality (GTKP,2007): The problem is more acute becausethe victims are overwhelmingly young and'healthy prior to their crashes. For instance,in Kenya and Nigeria, more than 70% ofroad crash victims are between theproductive age of 15-55 years (Odero et al,2003; Ipingbemi, 2006).

However, in both developed anddeveloping countries especially in Sub-Sahara Africa, the magnitude andsignificance of road crashes are grosslyunderemphasized. For instance, whenthere was a terrorist attack on UnitedStates in September, 2001 about 3,000people lost their lives in that incidents andthe whole world mourned the victims forseveral weeks if not years (Evans, 2004).The same number of people in the worlddies each day through road crashes withlittle or no concern .from eithergovernments or individuals. Similarly, inNigeria, 224 people lost their lives during .two major air crashes ( Bellview Boeing737 and Sosoliso McDonnell Douglas DC-9) in the country in 2005. For three daysNigerian flag was flown at half mast andthe country mourned the deceased forseveral days. In the same year, over 8,000'persons lost their lives in tragic road trafficcrashes in the country (NBS, 2005).Neither the victims nor their familiesreceive similar concern or considerationfrom either the government or othercharitable organizations.

The reasons for this poor attentionto road crashes in Sub-Sahara Africa,especially in Nigeria are not far fetched.Road crashes remain almost invisible tothe large society because hundreds of

, thousands of traffic crashes are scatteredindividuals events, tragic to thoseinvolved, but not newsworthy; unlike trainor aircraft crashes that are .alwaysaccorded serious attention. In fact, there is

the public perception that road crashes aredue to fate and bad luck of the victims;and in extreme cases particularly inNigeria, they are attributed to inexplicable .happenings such as witches or wizards,This is further exacerbated by poorinformation about the true scale of theproblem due to under-reporting or non-reporting of road crashes. Most of the dataused in Nigeria grossly underestimates thestark reality of road crashes in the country.For instance, only 1/3 of the road crashdata in the country are reported (NITT,2004).. Furthermore, the problem is madeworse . because of human resourcesconstraint and poor technologicalcapability. The road traffic agencies(FRSC, Nigerian Police and VehicleInspection Office) in the country are notonly understaffed but lack the requisiteknowledge to undertake the recentinnovation in road crash data collection .and analysis. The consequence is that thenecessary data required to assess the truescale of road safety problem in the countryare either missing or incomplete. This isworsened by poor governance and corrupttraffic officers.

Inadequate Insurance andCompensation .

Poor families are dispropor-tionately burdened by road crashes,particularly when the injured or the personkilled is the breadwinner. This problem iscompounded in sub- Sahara Africabecause of poor.or lack of insurance policyfor vehicles especially publictransportation and their occupants. InNigeria, vehicle insurance consists of twopopular classes: the Third Party and theComprehensive (Ojeme, 2007). The Third.party costs only N5, 000 while the

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comprehensive costs 10 percent of thevalue of the vehicle. Third Party otherwiseknown as 1945 Motor Insurance Act ismore commonly taken than thecomprehensive insurance.

A third party is one who is not aparty to an insurance contract but having .become a victim of motor crashes causedby an insured motorist, is entitled to takethe benefit of the insurance policy enteredinto by the motorist (Adeyemi, 2006). Thethird person may be pedestrian, anothermotorist, a passenger or someone whoowns a building or other property that hasbeen damaged in the course of using amotor vehicle. The level of compliancewith the mandatory third party vehicleinsurance varies across the 'world. Forinstance, in developed countries the levelof compliance is over 90% while indeveloping countries like Peru and Zambiathe compliance rates are 22% and 15%respectively (Aeron-Thomas, 2002) .Thispoor compliance rate has denied manyinnocent victims from receivingcompensation.

In Nigeria, whenever there is crash,road crash victims are rarely: compensatedfor injury or loss of property especiallywith respect to public transportation.When they do,' particularly for privatevehicles, the victims would have to gothrough administrative bureaucracy whichmakes the insured to lose interest. Lack ofcompensation coupled with poor healthfacilities and expensive medical .costs.further compound the burden of road crashvictims. This is a clear departure fromwhat obtains in the aviation industrywhere the airports, aircrafts and the crewmembers as well as the passengers areinsured against bodily injury. In the eventof any crash, compensations are paid tothe victims. Presently in Nigeria, therecommended minimum liability cover for

passenger of any aircraft is $100,000 (ThePunch, Feb 6,2007 pp 5).

Inadequate First Aid Techniques andRoad Side Clinics

The delivery of effective first aid isone of the activities in the management ofthe crash victims .which eventuallydeterinines the severity of injury receivedand the chance of their survival. Manyvictims have lost their lives because ofpoor attention at the scene of crash ordelay in transporting them to the nearestclinics/hospitals. GRSP (2001) observedthat a "golden hour" (time) exists forcasualties after a road crash within whichthe crash victims stand a greater chance ofsurvival and a reduction in the adverseconsequences of their injuries, if first aid.measures are immediately applied andfollowed by quality health care assistance.First Aid technique has not receivedenough recognition in Sub-Sahara Africa .as a simple and effective method in thepost-crash management of crash victims,despite the fact that globally about 50% offatalities occur at the scene within fewminutes of crash (RCRC, 2005).

. The experience in Nigeria at thescene of crash is to see both co-travellersof crash victims and thesympathizers/bystanders crying, wailingand weeping with no assistance beingprovided to the crash victims, writhing inpains. For those who volunteer to renderhelp, such assistance in most cases iswrongly administered because they don'thave formal training in first ald. Thevictims are either wrongly positioned orcarried with little consideration for. theirspine thereby worsening the severity of the .injury. In some cases, the injured victimsare lumped together with the. dead ones .due to inadequate space and the need to

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transfer them quickly to the hospital by. "good Samaritans".

The need for First Aid in roadtraffic crashes in Nigeria stems from thefact 'that road crash is inevitable due partlyto bad roads and poor driving behaviour ofthe motorists in the country. Similarly,emergency service on Nigerian roads isextremely poor because the Federal RoadSafety Commission (FRS C) that ischarged with responsibility of carrying outthis important task is overwhelmed with alot of problems such as 'inadequatepersonnel, outdated equipment as well aslimited financial and material resources.For instance, as at 2001 the Federal RoadSafety Commission could only boast of 25serviceable ambulances and 11 serviceabletowing vehicles that are expected toprovide emergency response to over 90%of the 120 million people in the countryusing the highways (Oyeyemi, 2002).

While First Aid technique is veryvital for the survival of crash victims, itshould be followed up by better healthcare services such as emergency rescueoperations and road side clinics alonghighways. FQr instance, Nigeria with over32,000km of Federal roads (Adeniji, 2000;Ogunsanya, 2004), has 20 road side clinicsand 13 zonal, clinics for emergencyresponse. All the major zonal. clinics are

,sited in major cities in the country. Theroad side clinics on the other hand arelocated on major highways in Nigeria.However, the number of the clinics is,inadequate compared to' the length offederal roads in the country. On theaverage, there is one road side clinic for'every 1,600km length of federal road inNigeria. This is grossly inadequate. Apartfrom the inadequacy of road side, clinics interms of number and coverage, thecondition (state) of the clinic is a source ofconcern. Some of the clinics do not have

the necessary equipment and personnel tobe able to function. A physical survey ofsome of them indicated that they mighthave been abandoned. Although there isplethora of Non-GovernmentalOrganizations (NGOs) and some stategovernments that claim to provideassistance to road crash victims on thehighways. Most of the NGOs only exist onpaper while some state governmentsembark on such activity for politicalreason.

Non -Existence of Road Safety FundThe Global Road Safety Facility

was launched by the World Bank and FIAFoundation to combat the hidden epidemicof deaths and injuries from road crashes.The initial donation of about $10 millionfrom major oil companies andmanufacturers is being managed by Global

. Road Safety Partnership (GRSP). Thefund, is aimed at generating increasedfunding and technical assistance forglobal, regional and country levelinitiatives designed to accelerate andscale-up the efforts of low and middleincome countries to build their scientific,technological and managerial capacities toprepare and implement cost-effective roadsafety programmes. Recently, however,additional funds' have been sourced fromSwedish International Cooperation andDevelopment (USD 47,000 per annum)between 2008-2010; Global Road SafetyFacility of the World Bank (USD 780,000)between 2007-2008 and the Japan SocialDevelopment Fund (USD 844,000)between 2007-2009 (GRSP, 2007).

While such Fund is very crucial forreducing road carnage in developingcountries especially in sub-Sahara Africa itis also expedient that countries in theregion look inwards for sustainablefunding of road safety activities in their

; 'II,

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.respective countries. Aside South Africaand Namibia few countries have dedicatedroad safety fund in Africa. In Zambia,Ghana and Ethiopia, road safetyorganizations receive funds from theNational Road Fund to finance theiractivities. For example, Ethiopia RoadFund allocates 3% of its revenue for roadsafety activities (GRSP, 2005). Nigeria inparticular has neither Road Fund nor anyother fund meant specifically for roadsafety. The country relies on budgetaryallocation for funding road safety activitiesin Nigeria. It is therefore not surprisingthat funding has been a major obstacle toroad safety activities and programmes overthe years.: Zietlow (2005) observed indeveloping countries that it is impossibleto secure stable and sufficient flow. offunds for road safety through governmentbudgeting allocations, therefore, it isnecessary to establish Road Safety Funds.,

3.5 Under-Reporting and Non-Reporting of Road CasualtiesThe problem of under-reporting

occurs when casualties are reported to thepolice but are not included in the officialdatabase (Jacobs et al, 2000). While non-reporting occurs when crash incidents arenot officially reported to the police.Under-reporting is a common problemboth in developed and developingcountries. For example, in 1994, US policeunder-reported fatality data by 2%;. whereas in Philippines arid Ecuador in1993 and 1995 r.espectively, thepercentages of under reporting ,were 62%and 351% (Jacobs et al, 2000). Theyidentified low priority for accurate datacollection and pressure on police or trafficofficers to avoid documenting worseningsafety record as the main factorsresponsible for under-reporting indeveloping countries. In United Kingdom,

studies comparing hospital and police.records indicated that about 36% 'of trafficinjury casualties were not reported to thepolice (World BanklWHO, 2004). In sub-Sahara Africa, the adjusted true estimateof total road deaths for all Sub-SaharanAfrican countries for the year 2000, basedon the police department's records, rangesbetween 68,500 and 82,200 (GTKP,2007b). However, the estimated fatalityfigure of 190,191 for Sub-Saharan Africapresented in the 2004 World Report onInjury, based on health care data, is muchhigher, . and reflects the magnitude ofunder-reporting in police statistics (World.Bank! WHO, 2004).

Although data for under-reporting is not available for Nigeria,however, only 1/3 of the road crash dataare reported hi the country (NITI, 2004).Assum (1998) . concluded that indeveloping countries, under-reporting maystem from the basic fact that some victimscannot afford to attend hospital. Arosanyin(2004) on the other hand traced part of theproblem in Nigeria to corruption amongtraffic officers and the need for parties.involved in road traffic crashes to settlethe case out of court. This problem ofunder-reporting or non reporting of crashstatistics in the country is an obstacle toany viable and feasible solutions to roadcrash problem in Nigeria.

SUGGESTIONThe above challenges in road

safety . have resulted in inability ofgovernments in the region to findacceptable measures or mechanism forameliorating road crashes in sub-SaharaAfrica most especially in Nigeria. It istherefore imperative to pursue thefollowing recommended options in orderto raise road safety awareness in the region

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/as. well as reducing the burden of roadcrashes.

First, there is the need to improvethe method of data collection and analysisof road crash statistics. The use ofcomputer in the collection and analysis ofroad crash data such as the MicroComputer Crash Analysis Package(MAAP) developed by Transport ResearchLaboratory (London) is recommended.This will enable road safety agencies tocapture the magnitude of the problem and .the stark reality of the epidemic. It must benoted that crash data are a necessary toolfor understanding and responding to trafficinjuries. They are vital statistics thatprovide the evidence needed to marshalresources and determine priorities foraction. Without evidence on the true scale,incidence and causation of road crashes,the problem may be neglected and theresources that are made available may notbe enough. To this end, there is the needfor continuous and systematic surveillanceof road crashes in order to provideaccurate and timely road crash data. It isalso very important to regularly publishroad crash statistics to show the true scaleof the problem as well as creating moreawareness on the consequences of roadcrashes.

Second, there is the need toestablish Nigerian Road Safety EmergencyService, which should be a unit ordepartment under the Federal Road SafetyCoinmission (FRSC). The department willbe charged solely with the responsibilityof attending to road crash victimspromptly. The staffers must undergotraining in emergency rescue operationwhile their vehicles should be fitted withstate-of-the-art information technologygadgets in order to ensure easy and quickcommunication. Third, road side clinicsshould be built along major highways (and

•

close to black spots) where crash victimscould be taken to for medical attentionbefore being conveyed to hospital. Fourth,commercial drivers should be trained onhow to administer first aid. The effort ofthese operators would complement that ofRoad Safety Emergency Service Unit.This is necessary because they are the onesplying the roads regularly and thereforeshould be able to provide assistance in theevent of road crash. Fifth, there must becoordination among several trafficagencies in the country. The role of eachagency must be clearly defined in order toavoid overlap.

Finally, in order to strengthen theroad safety .initiative in Nigeria, thereshould be the establishment of RoadAccident Fund like the one in South Africaand Namibia among others. Presentlythere is no such fund in the country. TheRoad Accident Fund should be sourcedthrough budgetary allocation, levy on fuel,fines among others. There is the need alsoto involve the private sector in order toensure reliable flow of fund. Private sectorparticipation should be gradual because ofthe humanitarian nature of the work.Initially, the bulk of the Fund should comefrom government. However, the role ofgovernment should decrease overtime bythat time the private sector would. havebuilt enough confidence in the programmeand consequently increase their stake.Another efficient source of revenue for thefund is to plough back 10% of all roadexpenditure to the fund as being canvassedby Commission for Global Road Safety(2006). Similarly, countries should be ableto draw from the Global Fund for roadsafety activities as in the case of Malaria,Tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS. Part of theRoad Safety Fund should be used to offsetbetween 25-50% of the medical costs ofroad crash victims admitted in public

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hospitals, depending on the degree ofinjuries and level of income. The NigeriaPolice, Federal Road Safety Commission(FRSC) and/or the emergency Unit havethe herculean task of ensuring that only theright candidates benefit from theprogramme.

ConclusionRoad crash is considered globally

as a health problem. An estimated 1.2million people die through road crashannually with several others seriouslyinjured. In Nigeria, road crashes on theaverage claim over 6,000 lives annuallywith about 19,000 others seriously injured.The consequences of road crashes areoverwhelmingly burdensome onindividuals, families and the society as awhole. In spite of the disastrous effects ofroad crashes on the economy in generally,several efforts that would have lessenedthe burden of road crashes are eitherneglected or ignored. These includeamong others, training of drivers in the useof first aid technique, building of road sideclinics, insuranceand compensation, RoadSafety Fund as well as under- reporting ofthe magnitude and significance of roadcrash figures'. The paper calls for publicenlightenment about the implications ofroad crashes, the use of computertechnology in the collation and analysis ofroad crash statistics, training ofcommercial drivers in first aid techniqueand the establishment of Road Safety Fundas well as Road Safety EmergencyService. It must however be supported bystrong political will devoid of corruption.

Endnote:1. Exchange Rate: US$1= N150

2. Road Funds are dedicated funds forfmancing road maintenance andrehabilitation.

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