Nigeria’s Youthful Population and Road Safety

Abstract

Young adults form part of an economically active group that constitutes the important human capital of every country whose death or disability can push families into poverty. This is in addition to the fact that road traffic injuries can place a lot of burden on the health system particularly in poor developing countries. Nigeria loses billions of Naira every year to road crashes, while thousands of victims suffer from a disability among whom many are unable to return to work. Many of those involved in traffic accidents are young people. Young people fall into the group of vulnerable road users as pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists and public transport passengers. This paper examined the connection between the youthful nature of Nigeria’s population and the rising rate of road traffic accidents in the country. The main objectives are to investigate the road traffic accident risk factors for youths in Nigeria and to suggest policy options for reducing road traffic accidents in the country.