Trends and Distributions of Road Traffic Crashes and Injuries, Nigeria, 2013 – 2016

Background: Africa accounts for one-fifth of low- and middle-income countries’ contributions to the global road traffic mortality, and Nigeria reported > 25% of this. Over the years, the trends in road traffic crashes (RTCs) in Nigeria have a slow decline. This study describes the magnitude and distribution of RTCs and injuries in Nigeria and determines if the sustainable development goal (SDG 3.6) target set in 2011 was achieved in 2016. Methods: RTCs surveillance data from the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) 2013 - 2016 was analyzed. Variables like date of the crash, route of the crash, location of the crash, the probable cause of the crash, age and sex of people involved, injured, or killed, road users type and make of vehicles were anonymized and abstracted on Microsoft Excel worksheet. RTCs outcome were classified as minor, moderate, and fatal. The road traffic injury (RTI) fatality rate is the proportion of persons killed in RTC per 100,000 population. Data analyzed for frequency, proportions, and ratio but presented in tables, trend, and charts. Results: There were 42,813 RTCs involving 56,331 vehicles and 283,949 persons. Fatal RTCs were 12,031 (28.1%) and 23,412 (8.2%) persons died. Male to female ratio was 3:1. North-Central zone (NCZ) reported 16,097 (37.6%) of the RTCs while South-West zone (SWZ) had the highest proportion of RTCs that were fatal 2,474/6,902 (35.8%). RTI fatality rate was highest in NCZ followed by SWZ with 23.8 and 12.7 deaths per 100,000 population, respectively. The States with the highest fatal RTCs were Oyo 631/1209 (52.0%), Yobe 114/269 (42.4%), Ondo 446/1073 (41.6%) and Kogi 566/1368 (41.4%). The commonest causes of RTCs were speed violation and loss of vehicle control. From 2011 to 2016, reduction in RTC and Fatal RTC were 27.4% and 7.8%, respectively and SDG 3.6 target not met. Conclusions: RTCs remains a major public health in Nigeria where fatal RTCs, injuries, and RTI fatality rate are differentially distributed in states and geo-political zones. RTI fatality rate was highest in NCZ and SWZ, and SDG 3.6 target was not met. Therefore, a context-specific RTCs preventive strategies should be designed and implemented in Nigeria.