Major Causes Of Road Accidents In Nigeria

What is an accident?

When words such as mistake, error, fluke are considered appropriately it gives a soluble description of what an accident is.

Like Merriam webster’s dictionary puts it, an accident is an unforeseen and unplanned event or circumstances resulting from ignorance or carelessness.  Road accidents usually happen when unforeseen circumstances lead to the loss of life and property whilst occurring on the road.

Here 10 of these unforeseen circumstances would be discussed.

• Over speeding: this happens to be one of the most common causes of a road accident. Many try to beat the traffic light because they’re running late and they feel the best way to do so is by increasing the speed of their vehicle, it’s the most efficient way to do so no argument there, some put it as “no risk no reward”  but the risk on this one outweighs the reward, that very careless attitude to beat the red light can cost you your life and many others. It is advisable to drive within the speed limit remember “it’s better to be late than Late”.

• Weather condition.

This Is one of the greatest disaster influencers whether natural or man-made. Rain and heavy fog are some of the weather conditions that affect a driver’s vision of the road. This has caused many vehicles to collide over the past few years, leading to both the loss of lives and property.

• Poor road condition

This is very dominant all over Nigeria especially in metropolitan cities like Lagos, Kano, and Jos where the containments of such locale is an outburst but treading on poorly developed roads, although actions to curtail such were taking the rate of an accident resulting from bad roads didn’t reduce even though the road safety measures were exacted. A simple pot hole or crack became a determinate to who would see the next day.

• Poor car maintenance.

Lives and properties have been destroyed in Nigeria as a result of brake failure. Poor car maintenance has become a major cause of car accidents in Nigeria. Driving cars with poor brakes, bad power steering, bad suspension system, faulty engines are just potential accidents on four wheels. If drivers can keep their vehicles in good shape before driving, the accident rate would definitely reduce by 70 percent.

• Poor orientation on traffic.

People suffer due to a lack of knowledge. Understanding traffic rules and obeying them is what makes an individual a good driver. The reason for imposing traffic rules and regulations is to ensure the free flow of traffic, when people refuse to educate themselves with these rules and regulations it would be exceedingly difficult to keep them, which alone would result in the wide occurrence of an accident.

• Reckless driving.

Switching lanes consecutively without caution is one of the fastest ways to lose both your life and your vehicle. Acting aggressively on the road and exceeding the speed limit are some of the ways reckless drivers can cause accidents on the road, no law ever kicked against calmness while driving.

• Tailgating.

This is when a driver drives behind another car leaving zero distance between them. This leads to a collision if the driver in front decides to stop. A good number of an accident involving multiple cars usually results from tailgating

• Drunk driving.

When a driver becomes intoxicated It becomes difficult to coordinated his driving activities while on the road. While under the influence of alcohol it is advisable to stay away from all things with four wheels, at that point a good number of the individuals senses are dead, although his brain may be in his skull, he’ll still be lightheaded *pun intended and it becomes easy for him to fall asleep at any moment, the big problem comes in when he does it behind a steering wheel.

• Deflated tires

The tires are one of the most important parts of a vehicle but most times people don’t care enough to look after them. That kind of negligence can lead to a tire blowout.

A tire blowout is a rapid loss or explosive loss of the inflation pressure in a pneumatic tire. This could results in a ghastly accident especially if the leading wheels are at high speed.

Worn-out tires are also contributors to road accidents. As a driver, it is expected of you to check your tires occasionally before going into the highway.