Improving Road Safety
in the OIC Member States
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overloaded and poorly maintained trucks are prone to roll-over crashes and are a constant
threat to other road users (Dominguez-Torres & Foster, 2011) .
Pillar 4: Road users
In Cameroon, males are at an increased risk of road traffic accidents compared to females (Jolion
McGreevy et al., 2014). Drinking and driving are a major problem after dark. Social activities and
several religious activities take place in the weekend leading to an enormous pressure on the
roads and often resulting in fatal crashes. Most youths have limited driving experience and in
the weekends they often drive at night and can be drunk while driving. Commercial drivers often
disregard traffic safety when they try to recoup weekend expenses and therefore overload
passengers and increase speed to complete more trips.
Human error such as fatigue, lack of skill, drunkenness, speeding and carelessness are major
factors for traffic crashes (Dominguez-Torres & Foster, 2011). There is an evident need for
public awareness of traffic and safe driving. Thus, the government of Cameroon has launched
intense road safety campaigns, strengthened enforcement strategies, driving school
standardisation programs and introduced medical exams for commercial drivers (CONSIA
Consultants, 2013).
Pillar 5: Post-crash response
The number of fatalities among vulnerable road users in Cameroon is probably far higher than
registered. It is likely that vulnerable road users who die at the scene are transported to the
morgue rather than the hospital. This suggest that the number of deaths observed in the hospital
(on which the registration data is based) are underestimated (Jolion McGreevy et al., 2014).
The time between injury and initial stabilisation is an important factor in the patient’s survival
(the so called golden hour). Prompt emergency assistance and efficient trauma care
management are clearly important in minimising the injury consequences resulting from
crashes. Cameroon does have multiple emergency telephone numbers but lacks emergency
room injury surveillance systems (OSAC Country Council Information, 2014a).
Reports of road crashes are channelled mainly through several informal and unstructured
media. Currently, only one toll free emergency line is designated for crash/incident reporting.
The location of the crash is then directed to a FRSC (Federal Road Safety Corps) patrol vehicle
that is nearest to the crash scene. The data is collected by people of the FRSC filling in a notebook
entry or the paper accident report form at the accident site (Minang, 2014).
Road Safety in Nigeria
Introduction
Nigeria has a total land area of 910,771km 2 and a population of around 174 million people. In
2013 approximately 6,450 road traffic fatalities were reported. However, this number is likely
to be an underestimate as not all traffic accidents are reported. The World Health Organization