Auto crashes claimed 2,673 lives in six months, says bureau

Abuja, Kaduna, Niger top accident list

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said no fewer than 2,673 people died in road accidents between January and June this year. The figure implies that an average of 15 persons were killed daily by crashes nationwide during the period under review.

The bureau, in its Road Transport Data for the first and second quarters of the year posted on its website yesterday, further clarified that 1, 466 died in the first quarter while second quarter claimed 1,207 lives.

The statistics, however, indicated that the number of deaths through road accidents was gradually reducing.The data reflected that 2,556 road accidents occurred during the first quarter while 2,503 mishaps were recorded in the second phase.

The report stated that over-speeding was responsible for a bulk of the accidents with the second quarter alone recording 44.44 per cent of the case.NBS added that loss of control accounted for 12.92 per cent of the accidents, while dangerous driving accounted for 8.06 per cent during the second quarter.

The bureau maintained that 8,270 people were injured, adding that 7,805 of the figure were adults, representing 94 per cent.The report further revealed that the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) recorded the most of accidents in the second quarter, followed by Kaduna and Niger states, while Borno and Bayelsa witnessed the least.

It estimated the number of vehicles in the country during the second quarter to be 11.51 million for the country’s population of 193.40 million at the end of 2016.

According to the bureau, 218,060 national drivers’ licences were produced in the second quarter.NBS stated that Lagos State and Abuja produced the highest number of licences while Zamfara and Kebbi states processed the lowest figure.