No fewer than 3,121 persons were killed in road accidents in the first six months of 2021, the National Bureau of Statistics has disclosed.
The NBS in its Road Transport Data report released on Tuesday said that a total of 6,486 road crashes occurred within the review period, consisting of 3,301 and 3,185 cases recorded in Q1 and Q2 respectively.
It said the 3,301 cases recorded in Q1 represents a 0.36 per cent decline from the 3,313 cases recorded in the previous quarter, while 3,185 cases were documented in Q2 showing a 3.51 per cent decrease quarter-on-quarter.
The NBS added that the observed decline showed improvement in road safety.
“In each of the quarters under review, serious cases of road crashes stood top, compared to fatal and minor cases observed, this calls for strengthening of our road safety agencies and medical response team,” the Bureau added.
A closer look at the data released by the NBS revealed that speed violations was the most frequent cause of road crashes during the review period.
Sign violations followed speed violations as the top second factor causing road accidents during the review period; this was further followed by wrongful and dangerous overtaking
A breakdown of the figures showed that by zonal distribution, the North-Central recorded the highest cases of road crashes in Q1 2021 at 905, followed by the South-West region at 877.
The report added that, “In terms of casualties in the quarter, the North-West had the most at 3,143, followed by the North-Central region.
“However, in the second quarter of 2021, the North-Central yet again recorded the highest cases of crashes at 1,015, followed by the South-West region at 876. This accounted for 3,006 casualties in the North Central, the highest recorded.”
The report also disclosed that in Q1 2021, 5,193 vehicles were involved in road traffic crashes compared to 5,230 in the preceding quarter.
The number of vehicles involved in accidents fell further to 5,134 in the second quarter of 2021.
The NBS said, “In the fourth quarter of 2020, 5,230 vehicles were involved in road traffic crashes compared to 4,893 in the preceding quarter, a growth rate of 6.89 per cent.
“This decreased to 5,193 vehicles in the first quarter of 2021, representing a growth rate of -0.71 per cent and further decreased by 1.14 per cent to 5,134 vehicles in the second quarter of 2021.
“Over the last three quarters under review, commercial vehicles were most affected in road crashes averaging 64.92 per cent of the total vehicles involved.”
