Benefits Of Seat Belts

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola,
having a feel of one of the air-conditioned Nissan
Sunny cars, supplied by Sun Motors to Lagos Taxi
and Cab Operators Association, at their unveiling
ceremony held recently in Lagos.The primary usage of a seat belt is to protect the driver and passengers against of fatal injuries when involved in a car accident.

Irrespective of the speed you are driving with, or the distance to be covered when travelling, it is important to always have your seat belt on.

Non usage of the seat belt as a result of sheer ignorance displayed by drivers on the importance of seat belt has caused many to lose their lives to car accidents.

A research has shown that if a driver wears a seat belt at the time of a crash, the risk of being killed in a car accident is reduced by about 50 per cent.

An appeal is, however, being made to the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) to organise more road shows where motorists will be taught more on the usage and importance of seat belts.

By Ajayi Abisola, a 200 Level, Mass Communication student of Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo, Oyo State.

Advocacy For Road Safety

Advocacy is the deliberate process of speaking out on issues of public concern in order to exert some influence on behalf of an idea, course of action, or some persons. Advocacy can also be seen as the series of actions taken to bring a change that will benefit the society as a whole. However, advocacy has different interpretations depending on the issue at stake and there are several forms of advocacy depending on the approach in the way change is brought into society.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) defined advocacy as a combination of individual and social actions designed to gain political commitment, social acceptance and system support for a particular goal or programme. Road safety advocacy is therefore a wide variety of organised individuals and social actions that are intended to mobilise the people, specific grouping and the government against road traffic accidents. One frequently asked question is: why road safety advocacy when the public sector has a framework to fight road accidents?

Although, it is true that the Nigerian government has a structure to promote road safety, the straight answer however is: the challenge of RTA in Nigeria is too enormous for the government or more specifically, the Federal Road Safety Commission alone to handle. In Nigeria, road crashes happen incessantly because road users are inherently careless about safety while using the roads. Unfortunately, road safety is not on the top agenda of our governments and yet, its advocacy is peculiarly scanty.

Whereas there are too many persons and organisations working actively on HIV/AIDS, only a handful of people and organisations are doing any tangible work on road safety. In the immortal words of Chief Olu Falae, “It is highly improbable that any family exists today within our Nigerian nation which has not experienced the anguish of the sudden loss of a beloved one as a result of accidents that could have been avoided on our motorways.” I add that many a family has been wiped out by auto crash.

Given this cruel reality, it is scandalous that many of us remain patently indifferent to the issues of road safety thinking that the FRSC has a monopoly on RTA. Truly the FRSC is statutorily in charge of road safety management throughout the country but we had better know now that no one body can single-handedly make Nigeria’s road safe as houses. Every road user has at least a moral obligation to ensure their own safety and the safety of others on the road at all times.

We should avail ourselves of the experience in other countries that to accomplish considerable success in road safety, many people in many organisations must work together. However, it behoves the FRSC to adopt more inclusive strategies that will enhance the participation of the media, the private sector, the civil societies, NGOs, faith and community based organisations, religious and community leaders, as well as individual volunteers in road safety advocacy in full measures.