Nigerian Youth As Agent Of Change In Traffic Safety Education By Adebayo Buhari

Youths as agents of change in road traffic safety in Nigeria has been a campaign for ages. It is an accepted phenomenon that the Youths of today are Nation Builders and future leaders of tomorrow. Road crashes have affected the lives of many youths and it has left many on the wheel chairs, many have lost their life as a result of excessive speeding and lack of road safety education. There have been numerous campaigns on the use of safety seat belts, over speeding, overloading, driving under influence alcohols and drug, using of phone while driving etc but many of these drivers always bend the rules to suit themselves and become traffic offenders. With the introduction of NYSC/FRSC Community Development Service (CDS) group and Road Safety clubs in schools across Nigeria, The youth now has first hand information about traffic safety, traffic control, traffic rules and signs and this bring about reduction in road accident.

The youths should be the first point of contact by the government to bring about safer environment for living because they are the segment that comprises much in the society as about 70% of Nigerian population are the youth and their activities is needed more. The Nigerian youths tends to take advice from each other most especially on safety and health matters. Therefore there is a need for road safety awareness been carried out among the youth with adequate support from the government. They have the capabilities to assimilate and learn fast and if they are been taught at the tender age, it sticks with them even when they start driving their own vehicles. About 80% of commercial drivers in Nigeria are youths and this is a result of the high unemployment rate in the country. This young driver drive under the influence of alcohol, drug, excessive speed, etc and this usually result to road crash. Road crash is the highest killer of young people all over the world, According to a 2013 World Health Organization (WHO) report on road traffic deaths countries says Nigeria accounts for the highest fatalities with 33.7 percentages per 100,000 population every year while the youth constitute a larger percentage of this death. There are cases of youths who are victims of road crashes due to their carelessness and lack of adequate traffic safety education. Instances of prominent individuals are Dagrin, MC Loph, CD John, Ahmed Alasari, Tunde Adesina, J.T Tom West and Paul Walker, a prominent American movie actor etc, have lost their lives because of simple road use negligence and lack of traffic safety education. If Dagrin has been enlighten on road safety he will not have drive under the influence of alcohol and would not have rammed his car into the stationary trailer parked along the road. Also if the driver of the tanker has been educated on road safety he would not have parked his trailer beside the road. If Paul Walker has been enlighten on traffic safety he would have caution Roger Rodas when he was over speeding which lead to their death. Most youth driver lack experience, Most of the young drivers don’t really have knowledge about the various driving techniques and this tends to cause difficulties for other road users and also has lead to road crash.

The youth should be sensitizing regularly in-order to educate drivers on traffic safety. Through this exercise, this drivers can know that they need to observe the first parade which are to check there engine oil, water, fuel and most important the tyre of the vehicle every morning and also to obey all road use signs and regulations. Public enlightenments should cut across all the various areas ranging from the schools, churches, mosques, companies, seminars, workshop etc so that everyone will know more on road safety and also the consequences of violating road rules and regulations.

Traffic Safety Education should be included in the school curriculum from primary to secondary school; Young children from age 5 to 11 should be educated on how to cross the road and the basic traffic sign. While those in the secondary school should be educated on traffic offenses and charges, road sign, traffic control, principles of defensive driving, types of road, regulatory signs etc. Transport Planning Management or other courses related to transport should be offered in all the tertiary institution in Nigeria. The National Youth Corp members who serve their fatherland for a year should be supported and encourage to be agent of change. These youth can help preach the gospel on road safety to other youth and drivers within their communities and this will greatly reduce road crashes. As it will be established that, information is easily spread among youths through the social media, like facebook, twitter, instagram and through internet etc and gradually, safety will return to the road and the objectives of the Federal Road Safety Commission will be achieved and there will be a reduction in road crash.

 

* Piece sent in by Buhari Adebayo Ikawokolaso

National Coordinator Road Safety And Accident Prevention Education, Cadet In Chief Nysc/Frsc Eket Unit Akwa Ibom State.