Every year, over 39,000 Nigerians die from road crashes, according to the Global Status Report on Road Safety. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates road traffic fatalities in Nigeria at 39,802, while the estimated rate per 100,000 deaths stood at 21.4. Findings have also shown that trucks are involved in the large number of those killed in road crashes. Most of those large trucks are incredibly dangerous, especially when a report from the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has revealed that a good percentage of people killed in large-truck crashes were the occupants of the other vehicles.

This means many drivers and passengers, including youths and children, who share the road with these mammoth-sized vehicles are at risk of very serious injuries and even death.

Though some accidents are due to uncontrollable circumstances, some accidents are avoidable with proper maintenance and protocols for large trucks.



Understanding this fact, the Corps Marshal of Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Dr. Boboye Oyeyemi, called for an improvement on the maintenance and standardisation schemes for vehicles, as most of them lacked safety measures like lighting, reflectors, and other parts.

Oyeyemi, who disclosed this recently in an interactive session between the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), the FRSC, and Haulage operators in Lagos, stressed the need for an intervention from the Federal Government to ensure that truckers have fleet renewal rules while vehicles that had been on the road for 30-years should be scrapped.

The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) boss revealed that 90 percent of trucks in the country are over 30 years old, stating that “due to the age of the trucks, they frequently breakdown on the road, prolonging the days goods spend on the road before getting to their destination.”
https://thejournalnigeria.com/trucks-on-highways-adequate-enforcement/