Accidents and bad driving habits

By Jide Owatunmise

Last Thursday alone, three of the reported cases of road traffic crashes claimed 64 lives on a single day. This is a great tragedy not only to the family but to the nation. There is no disease that kills suddenly and massively like this in the world. This is just one incident. What will be the figures for the day when added up to other incidents that happened in other places the same day? We all need to rise up to the challenge, drop personal income drive, drop government revenue drive and pro actively refit the driving school standards and road safety education and more importantly the driver licence process. These should be backed up with uncompromising traffic law enforcement nationwide. Driving School Association of Nigeria (DSAN) has taken up this battle since six months ago and must be supported by all concerned individuals and organisations to ensure a sustained stem-down of the rate of road traffic crashes, injuries and deaths in our dear nation, Nigeria. It is a joint responsibility and this is not the time to pass buck but to rise up and play our possible roles to stem the tide. May God comfort the family and give them the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.

Imagine the consequences of just three road traffic crashes that occurred in Nigeria. This is disheartening indeed!

Pleading with the Federal, State and Local Governments to be more proactive in addressing the challenges of road accidents, I would like to further advise drivers to drop every habit that can cause road traffic crashes, injuries and deaths on Nigeria roads.

Habits once formed are in most cases very difficult to drop. In this write up, I want to talk about the driving habits that must be dropped and detested by all categories of drivers in Nigeria (including vehicle owners).

*Restlessness – some drivers are so friendly with impatience that they cannot stay on the queue or in traffic when there is go-slow or traffic jam. They move from one lane to another in a bid to beat the traffic. Drivers must be patient and show sanity on Nigerian roads.

1. Drunk Driving – alcoholism and drug addiction are great enemies of driving. They work on human brain thereby creating effects such as slow reaction time, wrong judgment, blurred vision and aggressiveness among others.
2. Distraction – drivers must avoid every act of distraction such as making or receiving calls, texting, eating, drinking, smoking, making up, shaving, etc.
3. Tailgating – inadequate following distance is very dangerous. Under normal driving environment, you should apply the two-second rule but on wet roads, you should increase it to four-seconds. Following too closely is the main cause of multiple accidents.
4. Dangerous overtaking – overtaking wrongly is dangerous and has become a major cause of road crashes in Nigeria. Before you commence the overtaking process, you must ask whether it is necessary, whether it is safe and whether it can be done without violating the speed limit rule.
5. Poor lane management – many drivers (private and commercial) don’t know how to keep their vehicles in lane when driving. Your vehicle should always be positioned at the middle of the lane without trespassing to the next lane except when overtaking.
6. Over speeding – some drivpromote sanity and safety on Nigeria roads.