Wednesday, 19 May 2021: To have trouble is bad enough, but when trouble gives birth, it has a bourgeoned effect. Roads and trailers are meant for ease of transportation of goods and humans, but in the myriads of failing systems in Nigeria, bad roads are one of them. This duo has become a terror by day and nightmare by night.
CEOAFRICA investigations indicated that a lot of roads in Nigeria are sadly overrun with potholes, undulating slopes, and accident causing bumps. Some of these potholes look more like trenches and ditches or gullies. This may seem like an exaggeration, and honestly, there would be more pride if this assertion were to be false. Because, then we would still have some dignity left as a nation. Alas, this is the state Nigeria has found herself in.
A glance at a random road in Nigeria will break your heart if you care for the poor road users of this nation.
Due to the fact that haulage has become the most used method of transporting goods around the country, the impact of these heavy-duty vehicles on the road is overwhelming. The traffic they cause is frustrating, and the number of accidents they are directly or indirectly involved in are growing by the day.
The Plight of Road Users
For those who have to use the road, especially highways regularly, every journey becomes a prayer point. The experience of regular road users is marred with painful experiences, some of which have scarred them for life. Some of these people have witnessed deaths of their loved ones, some have watched as vehicles caught fire with human beings trapped onboard, the smell of burning flesh—an experience they will never forget; some have watched on in utter shock as vehicles tumbled over cliffs or somersaulted over meandering death holes on the road.
People are left hopeless and in fear of what the next journey holds. Even with a good driver, obeying traffic rules and keeping to his lane, the possibility of evading collisions is only a miracle.
To be a driver in Nigeria, you need more than driving skills. You also need special pothole dodging skills. You equally need the ability to swim over rivers of water along many parts of the road, and the ability to go through some bush paths—as sometimes the bush becomes a better road than the highway.
Poor Road Maintenance Policy
When things that could have been avoided happen, outrage is to be expected. Most of the deaths on Nigerian roads could have been avoided if the roads were maintained. The neglect of road maintenance and repair in this nation is appalling. Roads that were made several decades ago are still been used today. Nigeria is notorious for chunking out unbelievable sums of money for projects whose impact is rarely seen.
Each year, the Nigerian government chunks out sums of money you only hear on TV for road maintenance, but at the close of the year, the roads are in a more dilapidated state. Some of these potholes due to constant friction from rolling tires, keep on wearing until they become pits deep enough to hamper speedy movement of vehicles. You wonder where all the money goes.
Vehicles, especially passenger vehicles are left scrambling for space on the already small and damaged roads. To make matters worse, trailers and trucks with snail like movement now take a chunk of the road, forcing the smaller vehicles to negotiate the other lane of the road. Sometimes, multiple trailers battle for space amidst smaller vehicles who are also trying to negotiate the road. This has been a cause of many accidents. These trailers are often loaded with a lot of heavy cargo. And as they negotiate difficult areas on the road, the trucks sometimes tip to one side in very dangerous proximity to moving smaller vehicles. Sometimes they topple over, crushing the smaller vehicles in the process.
Some paved roads have lost their asphalt surface and are in very poor condition or have reverted to being gravel roads. Some of the road system is barely usable, especially in high rainfall areas of the south. In dry seasons, travelling by road in Nigeria has a number of health hazards associated with it like cardiovascular and respiratory health problems. The roads are dusty and coarse, especially in the sunny North.
CEOAFRICA checks indicated that of all 193 United Nations member states, Nigeria holds the harrowing record of having the second worst roads. Only Thailand seats ahead of Nigeria in terms of road accident fatalities. This by all standards is a record that should make the Nigerian government hang its head in shame.
Poor State of Trailers
For vehicles which convey such loads of goods over such long distances, often spending nights on the road, it would shock you to see the state of their engines or overall condition of these heavy-duty vehicles. They look dilapidated, overused and worn out. Some of them have been in service for up to thirty years. Business owners and manufacturers want to make money, but at the same time, they’re unwilling to spend money on maintenance or procurement of new vehicles. In the end, these vehicles constitute a menace on the roads causing pain and death, and also making them lose money.
Studies have found that the level of damage from a single 18-wheeler trailer is approximate to the impact of 9,600 cars moving on the road at the same time. This kind of load constantly wears out the roads faster than their original expiration estimate. So, a road that may have been constructed to last about two decades, wears out in less than one. This impact is overwhelming in every sense of the word.
According to data released by the Federal Road Safety Corps, Nigeria reportedly lost about 39 billion Naira in 2018 to tanker-related road accidents. This is not counting the cost of human lives lost.
In the same 2018, there were a total of about 9,741 road crashes according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics. A total of 650 tankers and trailers were involved in those crashes with over 90% of the affected vehicles been used for haulage for over three decades. The number soared in 2019, with 722 trailers and 361 tankers involved in accidents that left 362 people dead and another 1,282 injured.
In a country where law and order are the watch words, or the lives of people matter, such actions will not go unpunished. It is the inaction from the Federal Government which constitutes tolerance that has seen the continuation of this trend. Both the truck owners and drivers need to be prosecuted for driving old trucks on our already bad roads, constituting death traps in the process.
When these haulage drivers perpetually flout traffic rules, fight over space with smaller vehicles and constitute undue highway traffic, there should be arrests made which will serve as deterrent to others who may want to join the band wagon.
