Why Policy Makers Must Invest In Road Safety —Professor Atubi

By Daniel Dafe

Professor of Transportation Geography, Delta State University (DELSU), Abraka, Augustus Orowhigo Atubi, has said that “countries that do not invest in road safety could miss out on anywhere between 7 and 22 percent in potential per capital GDP growth over a 24 year period.”

The University Don who spoke while delivering the institution’s 92nd inaugural lecture on Thursday, emphasized the need why policy makers must promise proven investment in road safety.

According to him, “the cost of inaction has resulted in more than 1.25 million deaths a year globally, diminished productivity and reduced growth prospects.”

He said with over 39, 000 Nigerians dying from road crashes yearly, Nigeria loses about N80 Billion annually.

Delivering the lecture titled: ‘Road Traffic Accident Occurrences, Identification of Cycles and Periodic Oscillations of Casualties on Nigerian roads: Unsafe at any Speed,’ the respected scholar said that of all victims of road accidents, 29.1 percent suffer disability and 13.5 percent are unable to return to work.

Road traffic accidents, he said places an enormous financial burden on not only family members of victims, but on the society and government., just as he said that car crashes affect economic growth in every country.

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“World Bank finds that reducing traffic deaths and injuries could result in substantial long-term income gains for low and middle income countries,” he said.

Continuing, he decried the rise in car accidents in the country.

He said that “road traffic deaths continue to rise with an annual 1.35 million fatalities,” adding that road traffic injuries are now the leading killer of children and young people between 5 and 29 years.

According to him, from all roads traffic deaths globally, pedestrians and cyclists account for 26 percent and motorcycle riders and passengers account for 28 percent.

He opined that the risk of a road traffic death remains three times higher in low-income countries than those with higher incomes, saying that the rates are higher in Africa.