ON RECKLESS DRIVING IN UI : OBSERVATIONS AND WAY-FORWARD

Opemipo Olukoga

One Monday evening, Shonibare Michael, a 300 level student of Mechanical Engineering, in the University of Ibadan was walking on Tech Road with his friends after his GES class. He was laughing over a joke made by one of his friends when the screeching tires of a car jolted him. Alarmed, he stepped back in fear with the rest of his friends. They all stared in awe at the car which was being driven at an excessive speed as it sped past them.

That was not the only time Michael had witnessed reckless vehicle drivers overspeeding on campus–he stated that he had seen such happen about five times.

Michael is not the only student who has encountered tie on campus. Awoko Emmanuel, a 100 level student of English language department said “I have come across this more than once. Mostly, it was the SUB road, and sometimes around the road to First Gate.”

Olaniyi Esther Ayanfeoluwa, a 300 level student of Linguistics department also relayed her experiences with Tech road recurring among the locations she mentioned.


Looking into reckless driving

Recently, the cases of reckless driving and overspeeding on the university campus have been rising at a rather disturbing rate. This mostly occurs on the roads that are tarred and in relatively good conditions. Given the accidents that have occurred in the past and will likely occur in the future if this issue is not solved, it has become a source of concern to the student community and other concerned fellows. This has also led to questions being asked about the measures being put in place to halt the abuse of the road that is being carried out by inconsiderate reckless drivers.

In Nigeria today, reckless driving is a leading cause of accidents and high rate of mortality. The Nigerian Bureau of Statistics released that speed violations and dangerous driving are one of the many factors of road accidents and 1,834 people died out of the 3,345 road accidents that occured. While some of these accidents are fatal, the victims who do not lose their lives end up becoming disabled or have to live with permanent injuries and scars.

In the Federal Road Safety Commision Act, all forms of reckless driving are considered as offences in Nigeria. Thus, If reckless driving in states that comprise our nation is an offence, then tertiary institutions are not left out. In fact, it should be considered more grievous for reckless drivers’ carelessness to be permitted in an institution where the lives of many people are likely to be endangered. Although some roads in the school have speed bumps, it is as though that is not enough to put reckless drivers in check.

Although it has been difficult to identify these drivers, many students who have experienced reckless driving firsthand on campus have observed that only very few of them (drivers) are cab drivers. The cab drivers, besides abiding by the university’s rules and regulations on driving and road use, usually slow down in a bid to pick up a passenger or to enable their passengers alight.

Do these reckless drivers lack awareness of their actions and the danger it poses on the university community? Are security and safety personnels on campus oblivious to this issue? What is the way forward?

A CALL FOR RESOLUTION: THE WAY FORWARD

This bothersome issue requires a solution as it poses threat to students wellbeing and that of the university community as a whole. While proffering solutions to this, it is also required to identify some of its enabling factors.

In many areas on campus, there are less road signs such as “Slow down”, “Bump ahead” amongst many others which could control the speed rate of these drivers. However, they are important as they can reduce the alarming rate of reckless driving on campus.

In a conversation with one of the students who had encountered reckless driving on campus, Awoko Emmanuel said he has not seen much road signs meant to forestall the issue of reckless driving.

He said, “I think there can be some specific officers placed at some strategic location to monitor this issue and to penalize whoever breaks the rule. And for this to function, I don’t think there are much road signs that signifies speed rate in school.”

To prevent the occurrence of accidents and casualties, it is duty-bound that the school management introduce heavy penalties such as paying fines for erring road users. This way, these individuals will be more inclined to abide by the rules if they know they will be penalised when the commit offences. Although this might not erase reckless driving entirely on campus, it will drastically reduce it.

Furthermore, a higher institution can only be considered safe and secure if all security and safety measures are put in place. It behoves the school management to find a solution to this problem so as to thwart the casualty that may arise from reckless driving on campus.