No less than 40,000 people die every year from road traffic crashes in Nigeria, the Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC has revealed.
These road traffic crashes are said to be the leading cause of death and disability in the country.
Making this revelation during the 7th United Nations Global Road Safety Week in Abuja on Monday, the Corps Marshal of FRSC, Dauda Biu said, globally, 1.3 million people were killed and as many as 50 million people injured each year.
According to him, there is no greater threat to people aged 5-29 years than road traffic crashes, as one in every four deaths occurs among pedestrians and cyclists.
The FRSC boss said the United Nations had developed a global plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-2030.
He said it had an ambitious target to reduce road traffic deaths and injuries, which would be by 50 per cent by 2030.
According to him, taking action to ensure safe roads, vehicles and behaviours and improve emergency care is paramount.
“Ensuring safety must be at the core of efforts to re-imagine mobility, and thus road networks must be designed with the most-at-risk in mind,” he said.
The Corps Marshal, however, called on governments at all levels and partners to rethink mobility with a mindset to provide access to safe and affordable mobility systems for all.
Biu noted that the road network must be designed in consideration of the vulnerable road users who were the most at risk in mind.
He also noted that this would ensure that they feel safe walking and cycling, adding that this would further promote good health, sustainable cities and an equitable society.
Meanwhile, the Focal Person/Country representative, UN Decade of Action for Road Safety, Sydney Ibeanusi, said the government would continue to put the issue of road safety on the front burner.
Mr Ibeanusi said Nigeria had a better system, saying, “Nigeria has been chosen as a country to improve cycling, and Abuja has been chosen as one of the five states globally.”
