DISTRACTED DRIVING AND ROAD TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS IN
NIGERIA
Uzondu Chinebuli
Department of Transport Management Technology Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Nigeria.
ABSTRACT
Road traffic accidents constitute a major problem in modern times. Both developed and non
developed countries of the world have suffered from varying degrees of road accident not just in
the loss of human lives but also the cost on these nations. The developing countries clearly
dominate with Nigeria topping the list of accident occurrence, ranking 192 out of 193(WHO
2011).This paper addresses a major cause of road traffic accident which has not been given
much attention in Nigeria-distracted driving. The objective of the study is to determine the
prevalence and implications of selected forms of driving distraction in Nigeria and to find out
the relative contribution of each of them to the prediction of traffic crashes in the study area.
Data generated was analyzed using multiple regression analysis and the result was 0.79, this
implies that the proportion of variation in the dependent variable (road traffic accident)
explained by the independent variables (cell phone use, child/infant distractions, eating/drinking
and adjusting radio or cassette control) was 79%The F-ratio of 285.810 was produced which is
significant at 0.05 level of confidence. This shows that road traffic accidents significantly
increases with increased mobile phone use, child/infant distractions, eating/drinking and
adjusting radio or cassette control. Based on the findings recommendation as to how to reduce
distracted driving in order to reduce road traffic accident are offered for improved road safety in
Nigeria.
INTRODUCTION
Driving is a complex task requiring full attention to safely control your vehicle and respond to
events on the roads. It requires one to constantly coordinate between the mind and body,
whatever prevents you from operating your car safely is a distraction. Despite all these, it is not
uncommon to see drivers engaging in various non-driving related activities while driving. These
activities range from using the cell phone, eating/drinking, conversing with passengers, tending
to children, listening to radio, Applying makeup or even reading. Any activity that competes for
the driver's attention while driving has the potential to degrade driving performance and have
serious consequences for road safety.
Most accidents are as a result of the driver being inattentive, or distracted. as more wireless
communications, entertainment and driver assistance systems proliferate the vehicle market, the
incidence of distraction related crashes is expected to increase. In some developed countries, eg
North America, Europe and Japan driver distraction has become a priority in road safety issue
but this is not the case in the developing nations especially in Nigeria. Research by the National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration (2011), estimates that driver inattention in its various
forms, contributes to approximately 25% of police reported crashes. The purpose of this
research is to raise awareness about distracted driving and to promote research and action
related to it. It tries to summarize what is known as driver distraction, the risk to safe driving
behavior and what can be done to reduce it.
Road traffic accident in Nigeria
Crashes are among the top three causes of death throughout a person's lifetime (NSC, 2010).In
Traffic Accidents in the world. This statistics includes people that are inside and outside the vehicle, motorcyclists, bicyclists and pedestrians who were probably going about their business before they were struck by vehicles. In addition to this people suffer life changing injuries from road traffic accidents. A number of factors have been identified as affecting the likelihood of road traffic injuries and eliminating the exposure to the risk factors is critical to the success of efforts to reduce road traffic injuries. Distraction while driving is one of such risk factors and is becoming an issue of concern among policy markers.
Distracted driving
Distraction is the diversion of attention away from activities critical for safe driving towards
competing activity.(NHTSA WHO 2011).When drivers are distracted ,their attention is
temporarily divided between what is often referred to as the ‘primary task' of driving and the
secondary tasks not related to driving. This secondary task not related to driving puts extra
pressure or demands on the driver which may reduce his or her driving standards. Paying
attention to a second activity while driving is not safe especially if that second activity is time
consuming or complex.
There has been much attention about driver distraction due to the use of mobile phones in
vehicles, but increasingly research is revealing other forms of of driver multi-tasking and its
contribution to road accidents. Drivers experience different types of distraction on a daily basis.
Drivers are going to have conversations, read maps and directions and listen to music while
driving. The most complete and most recent research shows that any activity that draws a
driver's eyes away from the road for an extended period while driving such as text messaging,
substantially increases the risk of accidents.
According to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety (2012), if you're driving your vehicle, you
are already multi-tasking. at a minute you are: operating a piece of heavy machinery at high
speed ,navigating across changing terrain; calculating speeds and distances, and responding to
all the other drivers and obstacles around you. Putting one or more activity in the mix-even
talking to your passenger or changing a radio station can be enough to make you loose control
of your vehicle or fail to respond in an emergency. Almost everybody reaches for something,
adjusts a control or gets distracted at some point while driving, the important thing is that our
The incidence of driver distraction and their roles in traffic crashes may vary as a function of
roadway, environment and vehicle conditions. This is especially true for voluntary distracting
behaviors such as eating, drinking, smoking or dialing a cell phone. Drivers may be less likely
to engage in these types of behaviors when driving task demands are high, for e.g. when
negotiating a busy intersection, driving in poor weather conditions, at nighttime, or on a busy
multi-lane roadway.
Police in Nigeria do not systematically report the use of a particular distracting activity such as
using a mobile phone, in crash reports and thus it is difficult to Estimate the contribution
distraction makes to road traffic crashes and the consequent dangers it poses on the world's
roads. if police where to include distraction in crash reports, drivers are less likely to disclose
their use of mobile phones or other forms of distraction as it can indicate a fault, thus data are
likely to be underreported. Written statements may also be unreliable. Estimating the relative
contribution of different forms of distraction to road crashes is difficult. One study in
Newzealand, found that passenger distraction accounted for the highest number of collision
involving driver distraction. (PVRSC 2006).
According to NTHSA WHO (2011), the sources of driver distraction can be internal or external.
In vehicle(Internal ) distraction: this includes eating, smoking, talking, grooming as well as
using in-built entertainment system(use of radio, cds DVD player) and talking with
passengers(Horberry et al 2006)also systems not integrated into the car like mobile phones,
laptops, portable music or information devices e.g. ipods and blackberry. some other internal
sources of driver distraction are adjusting temperature control, adjusting radio or cd, dialing or
texting on a mobile phone, eating or drinking, moving an object in the vehicle, talking to other
vehicle occupants, smoking ,talking on mobile phone ,using a device or object integrated to the
vehicle(e.g. speed adaptation system),using a device or object brought into the vehicle e.g.
blackberry, ipod, laptop computer etc(Stutts et al 2001)
External distraction: may arise when the driver looks at buildings, people or situations outside
the vehicle as well as at billboards and other roadside adverts.
Drivers are usually distracted in one way or another, some distractions are unavoidable but
every driver must be aware of this and try to reduce them as much as possible .in a research
1. Visual distraction: this occurs when a driver sees objects or events and disimpairs the driver's
observations of the road environment.
2. Cognitive distraction occurs when a driver is thinking about something not related to driving
the vehicle.
3. Biomechanical distraction occurs when a driver is doing something physical that is not related
to driving for e.greaching for something and be out of the driving position or holding an item.
4. Auditory distraction is caused when sounds prevent drivers from making the best use of their
hearing, because their attention has been drawn to whatever caused the sound.
SOME SELECTED FORMS OF DISTRACTED DRIVING
1. Use of mobile phones
Cellular phones were first introduced into the Nigerian market in the mid 2000 and have since experienced dramatic growth. Over the years, cellular phone subscription sales have increased. it used to be a luxury available to only the affluent and a small business users, cellular phone use has become increasingly commonplace among Nigerian families. Cell phones are useful technology to people on the move, including people operating motor vehicles.
In Nigeria, the number of road accidents caused by use of mobile phone while driving is on the increase. Summary report of the traffic offences obtained from the FRSC POLICY, research and statistics division (2012) revealed that the figures have almost doubled in the past 4 years. The data can be summarized thus 2006-3346; 2007-3651;2008-4769;2009-4204;2010-7243.it is worse in the federal capital territory where it was reported that about 8,000 road users were arrested in 2011 for mobile phone based distracted driving.
2. Child/Infant distraction
The effects of attending to children while driving is very important. When attending to children, you tend to take your eyes off the road and this affects vehicle control. It leads to physical distraction. Turning around to talk and attend to children in the backseat of the car while driving is very dangerous. Study by Monash University (2013) found that having one or more children in the car was 12 times more distracting than talking on a mobile phone while driving. Don't try to handle Children while driving. It is better to stop and attend to children or have another adult in the car do it for you.
3. Eating/Drinking
It is very common to see drivers eating and drinking while driving. Distractions like eating/drinking can become a problem for drivers who can't react quickly to a sharp curve. Driving and eating is very dangerous. Eating while operating a vehicle has become a norm in Nigeria, it can make steering a car impossible. The dangers are there but drivers ignore them. You are safer when you stop to eat/drink. When you eat, you are chewing, swallowing, opening packages, unwrapping and re-wrapping food and cleaning yourself and the vehicle. This is truly multitasking and is too dangerous.
4 Adjusting radio or cassette control
Adjusting a radio, CD or cassette player was found to be one of the major causes of distraction related crashes in Nigeria. This is common among teenage drivers in Nigeria and it results in considerable physical and cognitive distraction and reduced driving performance. Some people get so carried away with their radio and cassette controls that they find it difficult to react quickly to some situations on the road. These things should be done before any driver goes into the road.
Research questions
1. What is the contribution of cell phone use, child/infant distractions, eating/drinking and
adjusting radio or cassette control to road traffic crashes in Nigeria?
2. What is the relative contribution of each of the above variables to the prediction of traffic
crashes in the study area?
Methodology
The data for the study was collected during a survey carried out by the authors between
respondents through random sampling techniques. The information we collected was based on
different sources of distraction to drivers, effects of distraction on drivers and solution to the
problem.
Regression analysis was adopted in analyzing the data obtained. This was done to establish a
relation ship between distracted driving and road traffic accidents (crashes), in the study area.
Results: in other to examine the factors causing road traffic accidents in the study area in full
details, the following variables were investigated; cell phone use, child/infant distractions,
eating/drinking and adjusting radio or cassette control.
The model is used in the form
Y= βo+ β1χ1+ β2χ2+ β3χ3……+ βnχn+εi……eqn 1
Where: βo= constant,
χ1…. Χn=explanatory variables β1….βn=regression coefficients
εi=error term
Y=dependent variable road traffic crashes χ̣1=cell phone use
χ̣2=child/infant distraction χ̣3=eating/drinking
χ̣4=adjusting radio or cassette control
The summary of the multiple regression estimation is shown as
Y=624.8192+3.7661 χ̣1+2.1194 χ̣ 2+3.3201χ̣3+2.5270 χ̣4+εe……eqn 2
Research question 1;
What is the contribution of cell phone use, child/infant distractions, eating/drinking and
adjusting radio or cassette control to road traffic crashes in Nigeria?
The data from table 1 shows that a combination of the independent variables cell phone
use, child/infant distractions, eating/drinking and adjusting radio or cassette control factors gave
a coefficient of multiple regression (R²) of 0.793 accounting for 79% of the variance in road
traffic crashes in Nigeria .
Table 2 shows that the analysis of variance for the multiple regression data produced
F-ratio value 285.811 which is significant at 0.05 whereas table 3 shows the variables in the
Research question 2
What is the relative contribution of each of the above variables to the prediction of
traffic crashes in the study area?
Table 1
Multiple regression analysis of contribution of independent variables
Model R R Square Adjusted R
square
Std Error of the Estimate
1 0.890 0.790 0.727 14.8682
Table 2 ANOVA Table
DF Sum of squares Mean square F ratio
Regression 4 244231.35 61057.84 285.811
Residual 347 74128.78 213.63
Table 3
Independent variables in the equation
Variablesβ SEβ BETA T Sig.T
Constant 56.6142 4.918 - 10.698 0.05
χ1 3.2401 0.254 0.247 12.756 .01
χ2 2.2380 0.249 0.236 8.988 0.01
χ3 3.1521 0.242 0.381 13.025 0.05
χ4 2.6390 0.341 0.224 7.739 0.01
Discussion
The results obtained from the statistical analysis of the research questions shows that cell
phone use, child/infant distraction, eating/drinking, adjusting radio or cassette control made a
joint significant contribution of about 79% to the road traffic crashes in Nigeria. Moreover the F
ratio value of 285.811 shows the effect of the four explanatory variables in road traffic crashes
in Nigeria. it could also be inferred that 79% of the variance in road traffic crashes are
accounted for by the combination of the four factors.
The most contributor is cell phone use (β=3.2401), followed by eating/drinking
(β=3.1521), adjusting radio or cassette control (β=2.6390) and child infant distractions (β=2.2380)
It implies that cell phone use made the highest contribution when all independent variable are put together at 0.05 significant levels.
Top 10 Tips to Minimize Your Distracted Driving
1. CHANGE YOUR WAYS and recognize the activities that distract you; such as eating, conversing on the phone, or changing a CD. Once you recognize these distractions, you can work to eliminate them.
2. MAKE A PLAN. Know your route in advance and make sure that you have a good understanding of your directions. Check weather and road conditions. If you are transporting children, make sure that they are all properly buckled up and that you items to keep them occupied, such as books on tape or soft toys. 3. MANAGE YOUR TIME so that you do not have to multi-task or drive aggressively on the road.
4. DON'T LET YOUR DRIVE TIME BECOME YOUR DOWN TIME. Understand that driving is not your "down time" or a time to catch up on phone calls, personal grooming, or dining.
5. SCAN the roadway to make sure that you are aware of others on the road at all times. Be prepared for the unpredictability of others.
6. CONCENTRATE on your driving. Make sure that you are not upset or tired when getting on the road. This is not the time to have a serious or emotional conversation with your passengers.
7. PULL OVER if you need to do something that will take your eyes and/or mind off of the road. Make sure that you find a safe place to pull over first.
8. REDUCE THE USE! Use technology sensibly.
9. TAKE A REFRESHER CLASS! Everyone can pick up bad habits through the years. A driver improvement class can raise your awareness and help you assess your driving behaviors.
10. BUCKLE UP, EVERY TRIP, EVERY TIME. Making sure that everyone is properly buckled up is the best defense against distracted driving (www.drivesmartva.org)
Distraction could be dealt with in different ways
1. Every driver should try to adjust seat positions, climate controls, sound systems and other
devices before driving off or when the vehicle is stopped. Know how all the controls work so if
you must adjust something while driving, you will be less distracted or have your passenger
assist you.
2. Drivers are safer when they stop to eat or drink, reduce the risk by stopping.
3. If you want to make a call, send a text message or email, pull over to a very safe place.
Talking while driving will always make you take your mind off the task of driving, and even
your hand and eyes. It's always better to pull off the] road before you use your cell phone.
4. You must be able to check directions and traffic conditions before you drive off. Pull over
when you're confused or need to look at your map.
5. No driver should multi task while driving. Driving is complicated enough, doing other things
while driving will be distracting. Don't try to read, write do your personal grooming while you're
behind the wheels, just drive.
6. If your children are distracting you, pull over to care for them. Don't try to feed them or
change them while driving.
Recommendation
It’s very true we need to switch off the phone and lay off the big mass while driving, but we also
need to keep our attention tightly focused; if you need to yell at the kids acting up in the back
seat, pull over. Always adjust the seat and mirrors, fasten your seat belt, tune the radio in to your
1. Collecting data to assess the magnitude of the problem and identify where and among whom
it is most prevalent.
2. Adopting and enforcing legislation relating to mobile phone use.
3. Supporting this legislation with strong enforcement and public awareness campaigns to
emphasize the risk of the behaviour and the penalties associated with transgression of the law.
References:
1) AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety (2012)
2) Children more distracting than mobile phones, Monash University.Monash.edu.2013-10-03.Retrieved 2013-12-10.
3) Federal Road Safety Commission (2010) Policy, Research and Statistics division.
4) Horberry, T. (2006) Driver Distraction: The Effects of Concurrent In vehicle Tasks; Road Environment Complexity and Age on Driving Performance. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 2006, 38:185-19
5) National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (2011) WHO." State of the Nation on cell phone distracted driving.
6) National Safety Council (2010)
7) Parliament of Victoria Road Safety Committee Inquiry into Driver Distraction. Report of the Road Safety Committee on the Inquiry into Driver Distraction, Parliamentary Paper number 209, session 2003-2006.Victorian Government Printer, 2006.
8)Redelmeier,D.A. and Tibshirani,R.J.,(1997)Association between cellular-telephone calls and motor Vehicle collisions, New England journal of Medicine,336(7)453-458
