ROAD TRIPS IN MY COUNTRY; A DEATH SENTENCE
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My Phobia for travelling started not so long ago, just a couple of years back. Maybe it's as a result of the dangerous Road trips i have embarked on in my life both as a kid and as an adult. I have been to all the states of my Country except Rivers State the Location of @stach Hub situated in Port-Harcourt Nigeria. Thanks to my former place of work and my job role as a remote support Specialist, this had given me much experience about travelling both impromptu journey and planned ones, which had made me witness and escaped some ghastly auto-crash, escaped some domestic plane crash etc. All this had prompted me to conclude to write about this.
Roads Trip are supposed to be fun and adventurous, reverse is the case here as individuals travel in fear like myself, the fear of not getting to our destinations. Statistically, an average of 13 people died in daily road accident across the country in 2017.
National Bureau of Statistics
The Federal Road Safety Commission(FRSC) disclosed that; June has a total of 738 Nation wide accident recorded which rendered 301 dead and 2157 injured, while July has a total of 768 Nation wide accident recorded with 423 dead and 2339 injured in this auto crashes. This are horrific figures and this occurs as a result of the factors discussed below.
Infrastructure; a paramount factor
A key factor to consider which is solely responsible for most Road accidents is the lack of adequate infrastructure, this is missing due to none or low technological standards as a result of underdevelopment. Despite the abundant resources, providing a state of the Art inter-state roads has eluded the Government; not that it wasn't in the budget annually but some circle of sucking puppets had siphoned the funds provided for this purposes with a no check and balance means available.
A poor Maintenance system
Maintenance culture is poor, this always speedily create depletion in the roads that had been built with this insufficient funds. After this Government office holders had diverted into the bulk of the project budget to personal endeavors, engineers and technicians had to make do with sub standard infrastructures.
Nepotism
In West Africa, Road Trips had claimed several lives and had rendered thousands of innocent road users incapacitated. The Government keeps awarding mega Billion Contracts/Project out for Standard Road constructions but only a few of this project materialized. Nepotism is the major foe here, top Government office holders awards this Mega Contract to Family and Friends with little or no Technical Know-how, several of this projects never gets delivered and there is no prosecution what so ever for this group of people- They all go Scott-free, evading Jail terms.
Over-speeding and Clumsy Road Users
Over speeding kills as well, even on state-of-the-art road Networks. On a standard road,it is fairly safe; But unfortunately an over speeding driver would blame any accident on the poor conditions of the road hence this remains a focal point till it's addressed.
Another important point to mention is the Roudy and Clumsy road users, it is pitiable fact that some drivers enhances themselves before embarking on trips/long Journey. How could a driver high on drugs or strong alcoholic contents remain sane/focus while driving commuters? 4 out of 10 road crashes would be as a result of this factors which could only be addressed by giving such drivers/road users capital punishments(If Any survived this crashes).
Hopefully this road Mishaps reduces in 2018, a tangible solution would be to provide good and standard roads which would be maintained periodically.
Wishing you a great week ahead, Thanks for reading my blog today again. Below are the links to some of my latest posts. I appreciate all the supports i have gotten from you all!
THE MYTH OF NINGYO VS MERMAID
THAT AWKWARD MOMENT #15 - "THE NEW YEAR PSEUDO RESOLUTIONS"
"ALMAJIRI", A MENACE FROM CHILD NEGLIGENCE RESULTING IN THE RISE OF INSURGENCY IN NORTHERN NIGERIA
7 Day Black n White Challenge
WHY DEATH FEELS SO NEAR WHEN A LOVED ONE PASSES AWAY!
Steemit- The Untalented Amazing Adjustments Bureau; Life of Startup Entrepreneur
THERE IS MAJESTY IN SIMPLICITY; A 2018 MODUS OPERANDI
FOLLOW-UPVOTE-RESTEEM AND MAYBE DROP A SUPPORTING OR CONTRARY COMMENT.....It's your friendly Neighbor @oluwoleolaide for Steem-Lagos-Nigeria-Africa-World!
Badge courtesy of @jodi.pamungka Animated Footer by @rituparnaghosh
This is a bit harsh though. ;)
Such an informative article, surprised me you didn't mention "text driving" ... The statistics from this is painful globally.
It amazes me how people use their phones while driving, you can't even safely use your phone while walking.
Roudy and Clumsy drivers takes care of that...it was a post made via my smart fone so i had limited words to type in.
Plus Capital Punishment is for Drivers who is high on drugs or Substances and killed people in that state.
Yes, the article is quite comprehensive overall.
I think permanent seizure of drivers' licence and weighty fine will be enough...
The whole world is moving away from terminating lives.
Hahaha, just too over zealous on the Subject matter.
I know right... :) Kudos .. you will make a great minister of Transportation (MOT)
yes, you actually hit the nail on the head @hpabiola
LOL
There are some raging factors contributing to this. Carelessness of the motorists, bad road, negligence of the government.
Yeah, all stated in the post!
sure
Those long distance drivers, a lot of them use alcohol before the journey. They claim it helps them...if only there is an effective way to stop alchoholics from driving on the road..
They are just delusional fools who needs excuses to abuse substances, i know a driver who has driven almost all the Interstate Roads in this Country and he only sips water when he is feeling drowsy(According to him btw)
Thats impressive and rare
Ordinary Ibadan to Abeokuta recently, our driver was totally high...
Dammit!
Hope he didn't bump you guys so bad.
that is this our local garage where you find out thugs and illiterate fellow using that medium to put food in their mouth when there is no other means, but we now have some nice car parks where you can easily transport yourself with good cars and buses. all drivers there are educated with strict rules and regulations.
well let me still say God is the one protecting from all journey of life
Nice talk... @oluwoleolaide let us thanks God for all the journey mercy and for his protection over us
May His name be praised!
its many number of vehicles and not discipline motorists make accidents continue to increase, somoso you are always safe in the future.
My country have the same problems, plus there's also the citizens' mindsets, if you will. Because of the leniency in rules regarding road regulations, there are also a lot o f people who cause vehicular accidents through their actions, like jaywalking and such. So there's a people problem as well.
It's just so bad, what country are you in?
Philippines. Just yesterday, on our way to fetch someone from the airport, we saw this guy crossing the road, a really busy one, while looking at his cellphone and walking really slowly. He wasn't using the pathwalk because there wasn't one. And this kind of behavior is normal here. People even climb over the concrete islands that divides roads. Sad really.
Almost the same thing in Nigeria
One of the things that could help, in regards to the people problem would be to raise awareness, in regards to how following rules could potentially lower the probability of accidents due to pedestrians.
Take Japan, for example, I searched through Google, and found that they have low rate of vehicle accidents.
Well it might be due to the fact they have excellent roads, but their citizens are also pretty much law-abiding (from what I see).
The bad road and the reckless motorist have claimed a lot of lives. Some times the force people cause them, I have witnessed a car being chased by the so called LASTMA officials on high speed. The government only remember to fix the road and implement laws and rules during election campaign. This is so sad.
That is another factor, the forces alone are threats to Road users.
@oluwoolaide
Of course there many causes of road accidents but we must not forget that most accidents are avoidable.
If life must continue, some necessay journey must be made be it via road, air or water . Please overcome your phobia and keep enjoying the adventures associated with traveling.
Thanks mate, some trips had to be done. But i try to avoid it if its not a matter of emergency.
Yes o. You said it well
yeap
fantastic article! Honestly @oluwoleolaide, you hit the nail on the head! Road trips are supposed to be fun...the ability to go at your own pace and stop over whenever and wherever you feel like to make a purchase along the way or even just to sight see...makes traveling by road especially enjoyable. I love to travel, i love to feel the wind in my face, my hair, i love the gentle rocking motion of a car (with good shock absorbers though.lol)...however, the alarming rate of accidents on our roads often gives me a serious rethink, making me opt out of several trips. We do need a lasting solution but i think the turnaround has got to begin with individual Nigerians...Your road transport data above shows that a whooping 42% of crashes are caused by speed violations! If every individual road user were to limit their speed and exercise more patience when overtaking, or when navigating bends, or when cresting a hill/high point on the roads, we honestly would have safer road trips. I'm so pushing out this article on twitter...hopefully several people would see it and add "I would stop over-speeding" to their new year resolution lists. Cheers!
hmmm .......... new year reso.... indeed
This is super charming @mosunomotunde
Now that i know you read this piece surgically, am gonna have to follow you. Gracias
Wow! @super charming... Yaaaayyyyy, ur following me already! *hugssss
Always use flight in areas you could. Roads are not that safe. Thanks.
Mehn, i prefer Road trip to flight most times.
Have flown all domestic Aircraft and i tell you, those are paper planes. Have never been on an international flight before, but i wish its not like domestic ones.
Still safer than roads :)