Characteristics of RTC, age and sex distributions of the injured
The characteristics of road traffic crashes (RTCs), severity, and number of vehicles involved from 2013–2016 were shown in Table 1. There are 42,813 RTCs involving 56,331 vehicles and 283,949 persons involved from 2013–2016. Of the total RTC, crashes involving one vehicle accounted for 31,374 (73.3%), 12,031 (28.1%) were fatal, and 26,373 (61.6%) were serious or moderate. There was a progressive decrease in number of RTC from 13,656 in 2013 to 9,580 in 2016. Usually, the monthly national average of RTCs reporting was 892, this peaked to 1,697 in February, and lowest was 589 reported in November. In overall, 7 persons were involved per RTC.
Table 1
Characteristics of RTC and vehicles involved, Nigeria, 2013–2016
RTC variables | Year 2013 | Year 2014 | Year 2015 | Year 2016 | Total |
RTCs reported | 13,656 | 9,873 | 9,704 | 9,580 | 42,813 |
One vehicle, n (%) | 8,118 (59.4) | 8,340 (84.5) | 7,302 (75.2) | 7,614 (79.5) | 31,374 (73.3) |
Two vehicles, n (%) | 4,761 (34.9) | 1,275 (12.9) | 2,170 (22.4) | 1,714 (17.9) | 9,920 (23.2) |
More than 2 vehicles, n (%) | 777 (5.7) | 258 (2.6) | 232 (2.4) | 252 (2.6) | 1,519 (3.5) |
Total number of vehicles | 20,227 | 11747 | 12,507 | 11,850 | 56,331 |
Total persons involved | 83,914 | 69,710 | 65,008 | 65,317 | 283,949 |
Persons involved per RTC | 6.1 | 7.1 | 6.7 | 6.8 | 6.6 |
Persons involved per vehicle | 4.1 | 5.9 | 5.2 | 5.5 | 5.0 |
Between 2013 to 2016, people involved in RTC were 283,949, adults (aged > 18 years) were 255,149 (89.9%) and male to female ratio was 3:1. Among people involved in RTCs, 23,412 (8.2%) were killed (fatally injured), and 133,273 (46.9%) not injured. The overall case fatality rate (CFR) i.e., proportion of persons involved in RTCs that died was 8.2%. However, CFR was 10.1% in children compare to 8.0% in adults as shown in Table 2.
Table 2
Age and sex distribution of persons involved, injured, and killed in RTC, Nigeria, 2013–2016
Characteristics | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | Total |
Total persons involved n (%) | 83914 (29.5) | 69710 (24.5) | 65008 (22.9) | 65317 (23.0) | 283949 |
Age and sex, involved in RTC, % | | | | |
Male | 76.3 | 62.9 | 73.5 | 75.5 | 72.2 |
Female | 23.7 | 37.1 | 26.5 | 24.5 | 27.8 |
Adult | 94.5 | 77.0 | 93.6 | 93.8 | 89.9 |
Child | 5.5 | 23.0 | 6.4 | 6.2 | 10.1 |
Total person injured n (%) | 39803 (31.3) | 27245 (21.4) | 30275 (23.8) | 29941 (23.5) | 127264 |
Age and sex, injured in RTC, % | | | | |
Male | 75.6 | 69.8 | 73.1 | 75.0 | 73.6 |
Female | 24.4 | 30.2 | 26.9 | 25.0 | 26.4 |
Adult | 94.7 | 87.8 | 93.9 | 93.8 | 92.8 |
Child | 5.3 | 12.2 | 6.1 | 6.2 | 7.2 |
Total person killed n (%) | 6442 (27.5) | 6147 (26.3) | 5821 (24.9) | 5002 (21.4) | 23412 |
Age and sex, killed in RTC, % | | | | |
Male | 77.3 | 60.9 | 78.9 | 78.7 | 73.7 |
Female | 22.7 | 39.1 | 21.1 | 21.3 | 26.3 |
Adult | 92.1 | 73.3 | 93.3 | 92.9 | 87.6 |
Child | 7.9 | 26.7 | 6.7 | 7.1 | 12.4 |
Total case fatality rate*, % | 7.7 | 8.8 | 9.0 | 7.7 | 8.2 |
CFR Male | 7.8 | 8.5 | 9.6 | 8.0 | 8.4 |
CFR Female | 7.4 | 9.3 | 7.1 | 6.7 | 7.8 |
CFR Adult | 7.5 | 8.4 | 8.9 | 7.6 | 8.0 |
CFR Child | 10.9 | 10.3 | 9.5 | 8.9 | 10.1 |
*CFR = (number of persons killed in RTC/total persons involved in RTC) * 100 |
Distribution Of Fatal Road Traffic Crashes And Injuries
The three geo-political zones in northern Nigeria accounted for 27,732 (64.7%) of the RTCs. Specifically, North-Central Zone with 15% of Nigeria’s population reported highest number of RTCs 16,097 (37.6%), followed by 7,900 (18.5%) from North-West Zone. North Central and North West Zones were among the first three zones with highest proportion of deaths among persons involved in RTCs. In descending order, South West geo-political zones with approximately 20% of Nigeria population reported the highest proportion of 35.8% (2,474/6,902) of RTCs reported that were fatal, South-South reported 33.8% (1,303/3,854), North West 32.5% (2,565/7,900), South East 27.5% (1,188/4,325), North East 25.0% (935/3,735), and North Central 22.3% (3,566/16,097).
Table 3
Distributions of RTC and injured by states, Nigeria, 2013–2016
Zone | States | Total RTC | Fatal RTC n (%) | Persons Involved | Persons kill n (%) | Persons injured n (%) |
N/Central | BENUE | 1431 | 374 (26.1) | 7273 | 683 (9.4) | 3842 (52.8) |
FCT | 5919 | 1023 (17.3) | 32338 | 1645 (5.1) | 11624 (35.9) |
KOGI | 1368 | 566 (41.4) | 11991 | 1161 (9.7) | 4944 (41.2) |
KWARA | 855 | 245 (28.7) | 6100 | 494 (8.1) | 2614 (42.9) |
NASARAWA | 3314 | 591 (17.8) | 17007 | 1002 (5.9) | 8737 (51.4) |
NIGER | 2172 | 553 (25.5) | 12167 | 1237 (10.2) | 5563 (45.7) |
PLATEAU | 1038 | 214 (20.6) | 6222 | 392 (6.3) | 3186 (51.2) |
N/East | ADAMAWA | 1049 | 162 (15.4) | 5509 | 272 (4.9) | 2502 (45.4) |
BAUCHI | 1159 | 349 (30.1) | 7810 | 745 (9.5) | 4112 (52.7) |
BORNO | 103 | 25 (24.3) | 756 | 75 (9.9) | 490 (64.8) |
GOMBE | 752 | 222 (29.5) | 5205 | 483 (9.3) | 3106 (59.7) |
TARABA | 403 | 63 (15.6) | 2094 | 121 (5.8) | 1279 (61.1) |
YOBE | 269 | 114 (42.4) | 2929 | 467 (15.9) | 1678 (57.3) |
N/West | JIGAWA | 572 | 192 (33.6) | 3364 | 430 (12.8) | 2133 (63.4) |
KADUNA | 2639 | 1040 (39.4) | 19215 | 2073 (10.8) | 9724 (50.6) |
KANO | 1528 | 436 (28.5) | 11191 | 971 (8.7) | 5484 (49.0) |
KATSINA | 1042 | 373 (35.8) | 6687 | 831 (12.4) | 3929 (58.8) |
KEBBI | 628 | 157 (25.0) | 3315 | 370 (11.2) | 2047 (61.7) |
SOKOTO | 558 | 137 (24.6) | 2889 | 324 (11.2) | 1551 (53.7) |
ZAMFARA | 933 | 230 (24.7) | 5864 | 504 (8.6) | 2948 (50.3) |
S/East | ABIA | 394 | 100 (25.4) | 3458 | 173 (5.0) | 1417 (41.0) |
ANAMBRA | 1064 | 297 (27.9) | 8231 | 510 (6.2) | 2651 (32.2) |
EBONYI | 970 | 300 (30.9) | 5673 | 446 (7.9) | 1843 (32.5) |
ENUGU | 1111 | 286 (25.7) | 8958 | 541 (6.0) | 3389 (37.8) |
IMO | 786 | 205 (26.1) | 5812 | 329 (5.7) | 2262 (38.9) |
S/South | A/IBOM | 240 | 95 (39.6) | 1455 | 154 (10.6) | 616 (42.3) |
BAYELSA | 341 | 43 (12.6) | 2221 | 88 (4.0) | 589 (26.5) |
C/RIVER | 566 | 192 (33.9) | 3025 | 403 (13.3) | 1342 (44.4) |
DELTA | 1070 | 414 (38.7) | 8331 | 751 (9.0) | 3322 (39.9) |
EDO | 1055 | 421 (39.9) | 9032 | 841 (9.3) | 3274 (36.2) |
RIVER | 582 | 138 (23.7) | 3602 | 271 (7.5) | 1350 (37.5) |
S/West | EKITI | 317 | 80 (25.2) | 1662 | 145 (9.7) | 809 (48.7) |
LAGOS | 1529 | 298 (19.5) | 11072 | 482 (4.4) | 3643 (32.9) |
OGUN | 1694 | 587 (34.7) | 14166 | 1143 (8.1) | 5935 (41.9) |
ONDO | 1073 | 446 (41.6) | 8572 | 829 (9.7) | 3622 (42.3) |
OSUN | 1080 | 432 (40.0) | 8745 | 819 (9.4) | 4463 (51.0) |
OYO | 1209 | 631 (52.2) | 10008 | 1207 (12.1) | 5244 (52.4) |
In terms of RTI fatality rate as shown in Fig. 1, North Central geopolitical zone reported 23.8 deaths per 100,000 population, South-West zone 12.7, North West 11.7, South East 9.5, South-South 9.1, and North East 8.6. |
Among the 36 Nigeria States as shown in Table 3, the three leading states with the highest proportion of RTCs that were fatal are Oyo State, 52.2% (n = 631/1209), Yobe 42.4% (114/269), and Ondo 41.6 (446/1,073). The ten leading states with high proportion of persons involved and killed in RTC were Yobe 15.9% (467/2,929), Cross River 13.3% (403/3,025), Jigawa 12.8% (430/3,364), Katsina 12.4% (831/6,687), Oyo 12.1% (1,207/10,008), Kebbi 11.2% (370/3,315), Sokoto 11.2% (324/2,889), Kaduna 10.8 (2,073/19,215), A/Ibom 10.6% (154/1,455) and Niger 10.2% (1,237/12,167). In Fig. 1, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and Nasarawa state, both in North Central Zone of Nigeria reported the largest number of average annual RTCs of 1,479 and 828, respectively with RTI fatality rate of 13.2 and 10.4 deaths per 100,000 population, respectively. |
Road user’s type, RTC fatality and Probable causes of RTC
The road users i.e., motor vehicle occupants involved in collision between motor vehicles and bicycles accounted for 13 RTCs but with highest proportion, 12.9% (8/62) of those involved in RTCs killed and the collision accounted for more deaths among children 18.2% (2/11) than adults compared to other categories of road users type as shown in Table 4. There were 1,950 RTCs involving the collision between the motor vehicle and motorcycle with 8.8% (877/10,007) persons involved killed.
Table 4
Road user’s type at collision, age distributions of persons involved, and RTC fatality, Nigeria, 2013–2016
| Persons died in Fata RTC | RTC |
| Involved | Killed |
Road users’ type | Adult, n | Child, n | Adult, n (%) | Child, n (%) | Total, n | Fatal, n (%) |
MVO* only | 165094 | 18380 | 12828 (7.8) | 1857 (10.1) | 23833 | 7104 (29.8) |
Motorcycles only | 18110 | 1958 | 1179 (15.8) | 158 (8.1) | 6174 | 992 (16.1) |
MVO & Motorcycles | 9140 | 877 | 791 (8.7) | 86 (9.8) | 1950 | 591 (30.3) |
Tricycles only | 977 | 77 | 24 (2.5) | 6 (7.8) | 255 | 24 (9.4) |
MVO & Tricycles | 778 | 94 | 40 (5.1) | 4 (4.3) | 130 | 21 (16.2) |
MVO & Bicycles | 51 | 11 | 6 (11.8) | 2 (18.2) | 13 | 4 (30.8) |
Motorcycle & Bicycles | 28 | 6 | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | 11 | 0 (0.0) |
Motorcycle & Tricycles | 24 | 2 | 1 (4.2) | 0 (0.0) | 10 | 1 (10.0) |
Bicycle only | 16 | 1 | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | 7 | 0 (0.0) |
Pedestrian | 4 | 0 | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | 3 | 0 (0.0) |
Not reported | 60927 | 7394 | 5645 (9.3) | 785 (10.6) | 10427 | 3294 (31.6) |
Grand Total | 255149 | 28800 | 20514 (8.0) | 2898 (10.1) | 42813 | 12031 (28.1) |
*Motor vehicle occupants |
Of the 42, 813 RTCs, no probable cause of RTCs was reported for 2,826 (6.6%). Speed violation 24.8%, was the commonest probable cause of RTCs, loss of vehicular control 23.5%, dangerous driving 11.1%, violation of sign light 10.0%, wrongful and dangerous overtaking 7.8%, tire burst 6.9%, brake and mechanical failure 6.2%, route violation 4.4%, road obstruction 1.6%, and overloading 0.8%. Others were, driving under the influence of alcohol 0.7%, and fatigue or sleeping on steering while driving 0.5, pedestrian crossing 0.4%, and using phone while driving 0.2%. Among 8,561 jointly reported probable causes of RTCs, speed violation and loss of vehicular control were the two most commonly reported, accounted for 2,068 (24%), followed by sign light violation and loss control 765 (8.9%), speed violation and dangerous driving 483 (5.6%), and 335 (3.9%) for speed violation and tire busted. |
Trends Of Rtc And Sustainable Development Goal Target 3.6
The number of reported road traffic crashes reduced from 13,656 in 2011 to 9,580 in 2016, resulting in a 27.4% reduction, fatal crash reduced by 7.8% from 2,840 in 2011 to 2,618 in 2016, and the number of persons involved in RTCs and killed reduced by 22.4%, from 6,442 in 2011 to 5,002 in 2016. The targeted proportion of RTC that were fatal for 2016 was 10.8%, but there was a progressive increase in the proportion of RTC that were fatal from 21.5% in 2011, peaked at 31.1% in 2015 and declined to 27.3% in 2016. The RTI fatality rate had 29.7% decrease instead of 50% target. It was 3.7 persons per 100,000 population in 2013 but declined to 2.6 persons per 100,000 population in 2016, as shown in Fig. 2.
Sub-nationally as shown in Fig. 3, ten out of the 36 States and FCT achieved the 50% target e.g., Bayelsa, Edo, Ekiti, Rivers, Imo, Kebbi, Adamawa, FCT, Delta and Benue. In descending order, these states have a retrogressive drive toward the SDG 3.6 target; Ebonyi (82.3%), Bauchi (62.0%), Gombe (27.2%), Yobe (19.7%), Taraba (15.2%), Ondo (14.5%), Borno (12.9%), Lagos (10.6%), and Abia (5.1%).