International Journal of Injury Control and Safety Promotion
Vol. 15, No. 2, June 2008, 99–108
Spatial analysis and socio-economic burden of road crashes in south-western Nigeria
Olusiyi Ipingbemi*
Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria
(Received 23 December 2007; final version received 12 April 2008)
Road traffic accidents are a major health problem in Nigeria. Death and injuries resulting from road crashes in the
country have been on the increase over the years. For instance, fatality rate rose from 5.3 in 1970 to 5.8 in 2005. The
purpose of the paper is to assess the pattern and socio-economic burden of road crashes on road accident victims in
south-western Nigeria. The study relied on the administration of 438 questionnaires to road accident victims in both
public and private hospitals in south-western Nigeria. The data were presented using descriptive statistics. Findings
indicated that more than 70% of the accident victims were within the productive age group of between 15–45 years,
with over 60% of them living below the poverty line. Motorcycles and buses accounted for 70% of the vehicles while
about 40% of the victims were pedestrians. Each victim on average spent a minimum of US$17 per day on medical
expenses and had at least one person attached to him/her throughout the period of admission. This has grave
implications on the welfare of the families and the socio-economic development of the country. The paper calls for
the use of preventive methods and post-crash management initiatives in order to reduce the magnitude and burden
of road crashes on members of the society in south-western Nigeria.
Keywords: accident victims; fatalities; injuries; road crashes; safety; speed
For instance, Evans (2002) put the cost to the US
1. Introduction economy at US$200 billion per annum, while the cost
Road safety has become a major challenge in both to the Nigerian economy between 1970 and 1997 was
developed and developing countries in recent times. put at US$384 million (Arosanyin, 2000).
This is not unconnected with the magnitude of road Besides these human and economic costs, the
crashes throughout the world. Globally, more than one socio-economic burden of road crashes is very heavy.
million people die through road crashes each year and Road crashes slow down economic development and
50 million others sustain several degrees of injuries perpetuate poverty. At household level, road crashes
(World Health Organization/World Bank, 2004). place a severe financial strain on families, who often
More than 80% of these casualties occur in developing have to absorb the direct medical and rehabilitation
countries, in which Nigeria is one. costs as well as indirect costs created by a victim’s
The deaths and injuries that occur through road inability to continue earning. At national level,
traffic crashes in Nigeria are worrisome. Apart from road traffic accidents place a heavy burden on the
the magnitude of the problem, all other indices (fatality country’s economy through both direct and indirect
rate and severity index) point to a decreasing safety on impacts.
Nigerian roads. For instance, both fatalities and While many studies on road crashes in Nigeria and
injuries increased by 630% and 120% respectively its sub-regions or states have focused extensively on
between 1960 and 2001 (Ipingbemi, 2006). Most of the the pattern, causes and magnitude as well as costs of
causes of these deaths and injuries are traceable to road crashes (Onakomaiya, 1981; Jegede, 1985;
human error, such as reckless driving, dangerous Mukoro, 1986; Oduola, 1987; Arosanyin, 2000;
overtaking, speeding among others. Besides this Oyeyemi, 2002), few studies if any have addressed the
colossal waste of human resources, the psychological, socio-economic burden of road crashes on its victims.
economic and medical costs as well as human suffering This study is undertaken to bring to the fore the
of road crashes are also very substantial. It costs each pattern and implications of road crashes in
country between 1–2% of their gross national product. south-western Nigeria. The paper is divided into six
*Email: odoile2002@yahoo.com
ISSN 1745-7300 print/ISSN 1745-7319 online
 2008 Taylor & Francis
DOI: 10.1080/17457300802150785
http://www.informaworld.com
UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY
100 O. Ipingbemi
parts including this introduction. The trend and causes states, in the east by Edo and Delta states, in the west
of road crashes in Nigeria are in section 2 while section by the Republic of Benin and in the south by the
3 is the methodology. Results and discussion are in Atlantic Ocean as shown in Figure 1. The climate of
section 4, way forward in section 5 while section 6 is the southwest is characterised by high humidity and
summary and conclusion. substantial rainfall, which support vegetation and
agricultural practices.
The dominant form of transport in the southwest is
2. Trend and causes of road accidents in Nigeria road transportation. Oyesiku (2002) in his analysis of
The trend of road traffic crashes in Nigeria is alarming. the condition of roads of some cities in the southwest
Between 1960 and 2005 more than one million cases of observed that more than 60% are unpaved. For paved
road crashes were reported. A total of 289,952 persons roads, less than 35% are in good condition. In terms of
were killed, while 873,492 others were seriously injured vehicle ownership, the southwest accounted for more
during the period (NBS, 2005). The fatality rate than one-third of the vehicles registered in the country
(fatality per 100,000 population) between 1970 and in 2005 (The fraud in Lagos, 2007). This large
2005 showed a rising trend throughout the first decade vehicular ownership coupled with the deteriorating
(1970–1979). For instance, fatality rate rose from 5.3 road transport infrastructure may partly explain the
deaths per 100,000 population in 1970 to 12.6 in 1979. recent increase in the number of road mishaps in the
The second decade (1980–1989) showed a similar region.
pattern. Fatality rate peaked at 16.6 in 1982 but This study made use of data collected from both
decreased gradually to 10.2 in 1989. Fatality rate primary and secondary sources. With regard to the
fluctuated in the early part of the third decade (1990– primary source, the researcher relied on the adminis-
2000) but decreased steadily to 3.4 fatalities per tration of questionnaires to accident victims in one
100,000 population in 1997. By 2001, however, fatality public hospital and one private hospital in each of the
rate had risen to 6.7 but came down to 5.8 in 2005. six states. The teaching hospitals visited are those
While figures for fatality rate (impact on human located in Lagos, Oyo, Ogun and Osun states.
population) tend to decrease over the years, in actual However, in Ondo and Ekiti states, where there are
fact the magnitude of road accident casualties is on the no teaching hospitals, the researcher made use of
increase. This may be due to poor population forecast. specialist and general hospitals respectively; because
Therefore, in Nigeria, absolute figures of deaths might these hospitals are the next in hierarchy to teaching
be a better analysis for local planning. hospitals in terms of patronage, coverage and service
Studies on road crashes in Nigeria have singled out provision. The purpose of the questionnaire is to elicit
human error as the most important factor in road information on the socio-economic characteristics of
crash causation in the country. Onakomaiya (1981) in the accident victims, number and types of accident,
his study of the causes of road accidents in Nigeria injury sustained, collision manner as well as hospital
showed that human error accounted for more than expenses among others.
73%. Jegede (1985) traced most of the road crashes in Thus, the study included a total of 438 victims of
Oyo state to human error, as it accounted for more road traffic accidents; 335 road accident victims in
than 76% of the total road accidents recorded within public hospitals and 103 victims in private hospitals.
the period under investigation. Also, human error A total of 60% of the road accident victims found on
accounted for 86% of the road crashes in Federal beds in both teaching and general/specialist hospitals
Capital Territory, Abuja in 2001 (Oyeyemi, 2002). at the time of visit were interviewed, whereas in
These studies from Nigeria and other similar studies in private hospitals the percentage is 75. The higher
both developed and developing countries (Jacobs & percentage of interviews carried out in private
Palmer, 1996; Maunder & Pearce, 2000; Odero, hospitals is due to their smaller size. Using interview
Khayesi & Heda, 2003; Wang et al., 2003) point to technique as tool for data collection, the researcher
the significance of human behaviour in road accident interviewed road accident victims in casualty wards,
causation. It must be noted, however, that other surgical wards and male wards as well as female
factors such as poor road design, vehicle condition wards. However, such distinction is not apparent in
and environmental factors are also becoming increas- most private hospitals visited. Similarly, secondary
ingly important. information was sought from the both the records
and casualty departments of each hospital. The
analysis relied on the use of maps, frequency and
3. Study area and method of data collection tables of percentages to depict the pattern and socio-
The study area is the southwest geo-political zone, economic burden of road accident victims in the
which is bounded in the north by Kwara and Kogi study area.
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International Journal of Injury Control and Safety Promotion 101
Figure 1. Map of south-western Nigeria. (Available in colour online.)
constitute 4.1%. It can be deduced from the above that
4. Results and discussion
the productive age group (15–45 years) constitutes
4.1. Demographic and socio-economic implications of more than 70% of road accident victims. This has a lot
road traffic accidents of implications not only on human resources but also
As stated earlier, this section is on the socio-economic on the socio-economic development of the country.
characteristics of road accident victims in selected Studies in other countries reveal similar findings. For
hospitals in south-western Nigeria. Six public hospitals example, Odero et al. (2003) found in Kenya that more
as well as six private hospitals were selected for this than 75% of the road traffic casualties are among the
purpose. productive age group of between 15–45 years. In
Bangladesh, Global Road Safety Partnership (2004)
observed that the most common road death was
4.2. Age distribution of the accident victims among males in their prime of life (16–45 years).
The age distribution of the road accident victims Similarly, World Health Organization/World Bank
showed that 5.5% of the respondents were within the (2004) noted that more than two-thirds of the road
age bracket of 0–15 years, 33.6% between 16–30 years traffic crashes occur among the productive age group
and 40.4% between 31–45 years old. Also, 16.4% of of between 15–44 years. The state-to-state variation is
the respondents are within the age bracket of 46–60 not apparent. This age group serves as a pillar for each
years, while persons who are 60 years and above family and the future leader of this great country. But
UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY
102 O. Ipingbemi
their dreams and lives are cut short by road crashes. families. Many of them are not only heads of their
Their contributions to their respective families or the different families but persons who offer both financial
nation at large become nil or even negative when they support and moral advice to other members of their
die, become handicapped or completely disabled as a various communities. Similarly, the money that is
result of road crashes. supposed to have been used for other productive
ventures is used to settle medical bills. In case of death,
it may drive the whole family into perpetual poverty.
4.3. Sex structure of the accident victims
The sex distribution of the accident victims showed
that males are more involved in road traffic accidents 4.5. Educational background of accident victims
than females. The male constitutes more than 80% of Furthermore, the educational attainment of accident
the respondents in sampled hospitals in the southwest. victims showed that 5.5% of the victims had no formal
However, there are variations from one state to education, 23.3% with primary education, 51.4% with
another. For example, the percentage in Lagos state secondary education and 21.9% with tertiary educa-
is about 88.8, in Ogun state 87.9, in Oyo Sstate 76.7 in tion. The higher percentage of literate persons is
Ondo state 66.7 and in Ekiti state 78.7 as shown in expected because southwest Nigeria has the highest
Table 1. The high representation of males is expected number of long-established schools in the country.
because most of them are heads of households or State-to-state analysis shows a similar pattern except
breadwinners who must provide for themselves and for Lagos state, where tertiary education accounted for
their families. Also, the male population is more more than 40% of the respondents. The large
mobile than their female counterparts. Studies by involvement of people with secondary education
World Health Organization/World Bank (2004) implies that many of them would have to stay away
showed that, globally, more than 73% of road traffic from school during the period of recovery and this has
fatalities are males. As heads of households or negative consequences on school attendance and
breadwinners, any injury or permanent disability will students’ performance and, ultimately, on human
place a great burden on the rest of the family members capital development.
and, in the event of death, it could drive them into
perpetual poverty. This was confirmed by the Global
Road Safety Partnership (2004) study in both Bangla- 4.6. Occupational characteristics of the respondents
desh and India, which showed that road crashes The occupational characteristics of the victims showed
impacted negatively on household welfare and conse- that farming accounted for 2.7%, civil service 26.3%,
quently deepened their level of poverty. unemployed 13.0% and studentship 14.2%. Others
include trading 13.2% and artisan 26.3%, as shown
Table 2. The low proportion of farming population is
4.4. Marital status of the accident victims expected because farmers rarely travel to other
In terms of marital status of road accident victims, locations besides their farms. Also, they do this on
32% of them were still single, 64% married and 2.0% foot or through the use of bicycles. Only a few farmers
separated. Similarly, 1.3% of the respondents were go to their farms by motorised vehicles. Similarly, the
divorced while 0.7% were widowed. However, varia- survey points are mainly urban areas where the
tions occur from state to state. For instance, the farming population is negligible. The reason for
percentage of those who were married in Lagos state is the large percentage being accounted for by artisans
75.3, in Ogun state 59.1, in Oyo state 65.1 and in Ondo is not clear but may not be unconnected with the
state 50. The large proportion of the married accident number of commercial motorcyclists (who are mostly
victims has serious implications for their immediate artisans) who get involved in road accidents, especially
Table 1. Sex structure of the accident victims.
Lagos Ogun Oyo Ondo Ekiti Osun Average
Sex No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. %
Male 79 88.8 73 87.9 66 76.7 32 66.7 37 78.7 64 75.3 351 80.1
Female 10 11.2 10 12.1 20 23.3 16 33.3 10 21.3 21 24.7 87 19.9
Total 89 100 83 100 86 100 48 100 47 100 85 100 438 100
Source: Author’s fieldwork, 2006.
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International Journal of Injury Control and Safety Promotion 103
Table 2. Occupational characteristics of road accident victims in south-western Nigeria.
Lagos Ogun Oyo Ekiti Ondo Osun Average
Occupation No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. %
Farming – – – – 4 4.6 – – 1 2.1 7 8.2 12 2.7
Civil service 39 43.8 25 30.1 16 18.7 15 32.0 8 16.6 12 14.1 115 26.3
Unemployed 5 5.6 10 12.0 16 18.7 12 25.5 5 10.4 9 10.6 57 13.0
Student 6 6.7 15 18.1 10 11.6 3 6.4 10 20.8 18 21.2 62 14.2
Artisan 28 31.5 15 18.1 20 23.1 10 21.3 15 31.3 27 31.8 115 26.3
Trading 6 6.7 15 18.1 16 18.7 5 10.6 7 14.6 9 10.6 58 13.2
Pensioner 5 5.7 3 3.6 4 4.6 – – 1 2.1 3 3.5 16 3.7
House help – – – – – – 2 4.2 – – – – 2 0.5
Others – – – – – – – – 1 2.1 – – 1 0.2
Total 89 100 83 100 86 100 47 100 48 100 85 100 438 100
Source: Author’s fieldwork, 2006.
in the cities. On the other hand, students constantly Ibadan (Oyo state), and Ife (Osun state) as well as in
move either to their schools or visit friends while the some of the private hospitals. The majority of the road
unemployed persons are constantly on the road in accident victims in the region could still be regarded as
search of jobs. Similarly, civil servants move to their being poor because about 60% of them are still living
different places of work on a daily basis. The below the poverty line (persons earning less than US$1
implications of this large representation of civil per day). Since the poor condition of the victims does
servants in the whole analysis may mean absenteeism not protect them from road crashes, in the event of any
from work and the attendant effect of loss of injury, money has to be spent on medical services,
productive time on the economy. For the artisans, drugs and in some cases for funerals. This is capable of
the effects are felt by the victims’ immediate families as deepening or exacerbating the existing level of poverty
inability to go to work means little or no income for of the victims and their family members.
the day, because a substantial number of them depend
on daily income to sustain their lives.
4.8. Period of stay in the hospital and medical expenses
The period of stay of the victims in the hospitals
4.7. Monthly income of accident victims depend on the seriousness of the injury as well as
The issue of disposable income is always very sensitive hospital expenses. The analysis showed at the time of
in any society, because the disclosure of the actual visit that 41.1% of them had just spent 1 week, 34.9%
amount earned is erroneously believed as the basis for 2 weeks, 15.1% 1 month and 7.5% 3 months. Accident
higher taxation. The researcher encountered this victims who had spent between 6 months and 1 year
problem in the field as many accident victims initially accounted for 1.4%. About 70% of the respondents
declined to answer the question. The researcher had had spent less than US$427 at the time of the survey.
to embark on a full explanation of this study before State-to-state analysis showed a similar pattern. For
this question was satisfactorily answered by some of instance, 31.1% of the victims in Lagos state had
them. expended about US$427 on treatment at the time the
The pattern of monthly income indicated that 4.8% researcher visited the hospitals, 58.8% in Oyo state,
of the victims earned less than US$8.5 a month. 11% 56.8% in Osun state and 70.6% in Ogun state. The
earned between US$8.5–17, 38.4% between US$17–43 percentage is as high as 82.8 in Ekiti state and 93.3 in
and 13% between US$43–86. About 33% of the Ondo state. The large percentage of victims paying less
respondents earned over US$86 per month. This is than US$427 in the two hospitals is due to the fact that
because many of the victims are civil servants, these are general hospitals owned by the state
‘businessmen/women’ or artisans. The state-to-state governments, which heavily subsidise the costs of
analysis showed that, in Lagos state, 50% of the hospital bills for their citizens. Moreover, victims with
victims earned between US$17–43 monthly. The complicated injuries are generally transferred to
corresponding percentage for Oyo state is 23.5, Ogun teaching hospitals for better medical attention. At
state 23.5, Ondo state 3.3, Ekiti state 3.4 and Osun this point, such victims may be charged higher for the
state 13.5. The analysis further showed that victims cost of treatment than in the general hospitals.
with higher income were found mostly in the teaching Further analysis showed that the percentage of
hospitals located in Lagos, Shagamu (Ogun state), victims who spent more than US$427 is high in both
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104 O. Ipingbemi
Lagos and Oyo states as well as in most of the care of the victims are either students or workers
private hospitals. For example, 25% of the victims in who must give up their education and/or means of
Lagos state spent between US$427 and US$854, livelihoods in order to take good care of the injured.
while in Oyo state 29.4% of the victims spent This portends a grave danger to human development
between US$427 and US$854. On average, each road with its unquantifiable consequences on both the
accident victim had stayed for 25 days and spent regional and national economy.
about US$444. This translates to an average of over
US$17 per day.
4.10. Main causes of road traffic accidents
The causes of road accidents from the victims’
4.9. People who take care of accident victims perspective showed that driver error (speeding, wrong
An analysis of people who take care of accident overtaking and distraction) accounted for 71.2%,
victims in the hospitals (family members, friends, vehicle defects (burst tyre and brake failure) 15.1%,
apprentices permanently staying with the victims in road defects (potholes and slippery surface) 6.2% and
the hospital) showed that about 85% of the victims weather-related causes (poor visibility and heavy
had one of their family members around them in the rainfall) 4.8%. Others such as armed robbery and
hospital. However, further investigations indicated illegal police checkpoints at night accounted for 1.4%.
that most accident victims have people staying with The large percentage accounted for by driver error is
them in the hospital on a rotational basis between expected because studies in Nigeria (Jegede, 1985;
certain hours of the day. In some exceptional cases, Mukoro, 1986; Oyeyemi, 2003; NITT 2004) and
some victims had two people attending to their non- elsewhere (Jacobs & Palmer, 1996; Maunder & Pearce,
medical needs in the hospital. This accounted for 2000) showed similar findings. The breakdown of the
about 10.3%. The victims in this category were major causes of road accidents is presented in Figure 2.
people from rich families, very popular individuals or The spatial distribution of the causes showed a similar
artisans with many apprentices. The implication of pattern. For example, in Lagos state, driver error was
the foregoing is that most of these people who take responsible for 87.5% of the cases, Osun state 93.1%,
Figure 2. Breakdown of causes of road traffic crashes from the viewpoint of road traffic crashes victims’ interview. Source:
Author’s fieldwork, 2006. (Available in colour online.)
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International Journal of Injury Control and Safety Promotion 105
Ondo state 73.3% and in Oyo State 79%. Other causes injury 12.9%. The state-to-state analysis also depicted
such as poor vehicle condition, faulty road engineering a similar pattern. For instance, in Osun, Lagos, Ekiti
design as well as environmental issues are, however, and Ondo states, leg injury accounted for 43.5%,
becoming increasingly important. 37.1%, 42.6% and 41.7% respectively. This is shown
in Figure 3. The large percentage of leg injury of all
injuries sustained may not be unconnected with the
4.11. Type of injury sustained by accident victims high accident rate among commercial motorcyclists
With regard to injury type, leg injury accounted for popularly called ‘Okada’ throughout the Federation.
37.4% of all the injuries sustained by the victims. This For example, over 80% of those who sustained leg
is distantly followed by multiple injuries, which injury in Ekiti, Ondo and Osun states were
accounted for 15.0%, dislocation 14.1% and head motorcyclists.
Figure 3. Type of injury sustained by the accident victims. (Available in colour online.)
UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY
106 O. Ipingbemi
4.12. Type of vehicles involved and manner of collision
5.1. Preventive methods
An analysis of types of vehicles involved in road
accidents indicated that motorcycles accounted for 5.1.1. Public enlightenment campaign and enforcement
42.5% of the total. This is followed by buses 31.5%, of traffic laws
automobiles 13.7% and taxicabs 8.2%. Luxury buses There is need for more aggressive campaigns and
accounted for only 4.1%. As noted earlier, motorcycles public enlightenment by the Federal Road Safety
were mostly involved in road accident cases in Ekiti, Commission (FRSC) and other relevant traffic agen-
Ondo and Osun states. In most of the hospitals visited, cies on the danger of speeding. This is necessary
especially the private ones, victims of road accidents because the accident victims identified it as the major
involving motorcycles had separate wards. This situa- factor that aggravates road crashes in the area. The
tion has become so serious that authorities of some enlightenment programme can take the form of work-
hospitals are seriously considering not accepting shops and symposia on road safety, where leaflets and
victims of motorcycle accident any longer. Also, side posters will be distributed to drivers. Creation of
collision accounted for over 40% of all cases. This is awareness alone may not reduce road accidents;
not surprising because motorcycle riders who are therefore, it must be backed up by effective
always in haste usually crisscross dangerously as they enforcement of traffic laws and regulations. All traffic
manoeuvre themselves among other road users. Also, agencies (FRSC, the police, Vehicle Inspection Office)
usually, most motorcyclists collide with other vehicles must make sure that all motorists respect the speed
either from the rear or by the side. Also, since 65% of limit as well as ensuring that all vehicles are
road crashes occurred at junctions it is expected that roadworthy.
side collisions would be very high. The large percen-
tage of lone accidents (27.4%) in the analysis is not
unconnected with speeding and careless driving, 5.1.2. Regulate the use of motorcycles
especially among young unmarried drivers whose The government should, as a matter of urgency,
driving experience is often very low. Other factors regulate the use of motorcycles in the country because
responsible for lone accidents include burst tyres, of their high involvement in road crashes. For instance,
potholes on the carriageway and slippery road over 40% of accident victims were either knocked
surface. Similarly, over 80% of the head-on down by a motorcycle or were on it when the crash
collisions were due to wrong overtaking and dangerous occurred. Although the government has recently
driving. This pattern cuts across the six states in the banned their operations in the core areas of some
study area. cities, this has not been effectively enforced.
4.13. Pedestrian involvement 5.1.3. Subsidise motor vehicles’ tyres
Furthermore, more than 40% of the accident victims The federal government should provide targeted
were either standing, walking or crossing the road subsidies, such as a tyre subsidy, to motorists. This
when they were knocked down by vehicles. A could be done by reducing import duties on imported
substantial percentage of the pedestrian accidents new tyres or on the raw materials for manufacturing
were caused by motorcycles (Okada), which their tyres. The government can also subsidise the activities
operations in most cities in the study area has become of tyre manufacturing industries. This has become
a ‘traffic menace’ and is now a major source of concern necessary because of the total reliance of commercial
to transport experts, researchers as well as policy drivers on fairly used imported tyres known as
makers. ‘Tokunbo tyres’, which, although cheaper than new
ones, easily burst under heavy loads and high ambient
temperatures of the carriageway. In fact, accident
5. Way forward victims identified tyre burst as one of the major causes
The above findings presuppose that road accidents are of road crashes in south-western Nigeria.
a fundamental health problem in Nigeria, especially in
south-western Nigeria. Therefore, the most effective
way of reducing the carnage on the roads and
5.2. Post-crash management initiatives
ameliorating the burden of the victims is by combining
both preventive and post-crash management initia- 5.2.1. First aid training and building of roadside clinics
tives. To this end, the below enumerated initiatives are The government should direct the FRSC to have, as
therefore recommended. part of its activities, the training of its members on first
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International Journal of Injury Control and Safety Promotion 107
aid techniques so as to be able to professionally assist
road accident victims at the scene of the accident. This 6. Summary and conclusion
is known at global level as Pre-hospital Trauma Care Road accidents are a public health problem in Nigeria.
System. This is so because personal interviews with They have claimed several lives and rendered some
accident victims in some of the hospitals revealed that seriously injured while others are permanently disabled.
most of them did not receive immediate attention at The study showed that more than 70% are within the
the scene of the accident, thereby aggravating the scale productive age of between 15 and 45 years. Most of
of their injuries. This should be complemented by them are poor because over 60% of them are living
building roadside clinics staffed with medical personnel below the poverty line (earning less than 1$ per day) and
along the highways in the study area. These clinics expend about US$17 daily on medical expenses.
should be at intervals of about 50 km and be staffed The implications for the victims and their families
with doctors, nurses and other paramedics. Similarly, are burdensome. A substantial number of them are in
ambulances fitted with the latest communication their productive age, who had to give up either their jobs
gadgets should be provided along these roads to or education during the period of admission, recovery
instantly convey road accident victims from the and rehabilitation; either as a victim or carer. Similarly,
scene of accidents to these clinics, where they will the amount spent daily on medical costs is capable of
receive first-hand attention before being taken to the deepening the existing level of poverty of victims and
hospitals. their families. Also, most of the victims of road accidents
who suffered permanent disability are now beggars,
found mostly at junctions, markets and major streets in
5.2.2. Subsidise drugs and related medical services for almost all the cities in the southwest. It is therefore
accident victims imperative to combine both preventive and post-crash
It is very important for the government to subsidise initiatives in the management of road accident victims in
the victims’ expenses of drugs and other related the southwest region. This is expected to reduce the
medical services because a substantial percentage of suffering of the road accident victims as well as the
them are poor. In other words, they are still living severity and scale of their injuries.
below the poverty line. It is suggested that the
government defray by 25% the cost of medical
expenses of road accident victims admitted to
government hospitals. Similarly, all public hospitals References
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