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Psychosocial Factors Influencing Commercial Drivers’ Recklessness
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The Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) has said over 80% of road
traffic accidents involving commercial drivers on Nigeria roads are
usually caused by what it described as “Psychosocial Factorsâ€.
Recklessness, avoidable aggression and road rage which manifest in
excessive speeding, overloading, sleepiness, dangerous overtaking, and
lack of consideration for other road users were identified by the
commission as human factors responsible for the high rate of road
traffic crash on the nations roads (FRSC, 2008).
Lagos state sector
commander of the FRSC also mentioned that among the psychosocial factors
were recklessness, drunkenness, poor quality drivers, indiscriminate
parking, over speeding by commercial drivers, bad attitude and culture
of driving as well as the attitude of policemen and other uniform men
that left their duty of controlling traffic for the money they would get
in their pockets, mobile phone use while driving, old age, fatigue,
poor eyesight, adding that if precautionary measures were not put in
place more deaths could still be recorded on our roads (Daniel, 2010).
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Majority
of the commercial drivers ignorantly depend on one form of drug or the
other for their various daily activities. such drug include tobacco,
Indian hemp, cocaine, morphine, Heroine, Alcohol, Epherdrine, Madras,
caffeine, Glue, Barbiturates, Amphetamines etc (Daniel, 2010).
The
costs of fatalities, injuries and death due to road traffic accidents
have a tremendous impact on societal well-being and socio economic
development. Road traffic accidents are among the leading causes of
death and injury world-wide, causing an estimated 1.2 million deaths and
50 million injuries each year (WHO, 2007). In Ojo Local Government Area
of Lagos State, for instance, road traffic accidents are common among
commercial drivers due to psycho social factors such as family
background, environment, family trauma, get rich quick, phone use,
passenger distraction among others.
Preliminary research has shown
that most of the commercial drivers operating in Lagos State take
alcohol in the morning which would make them drive under influence, and
give them extra energy, motivation, and fearlessness to speed limit, and
this inevitably put the lives of the passengers at risk of possible
elimination, working parents are killed or injured, many women have
turned to premature widows, parents lost their wards in road traffic
accident as a result of reckless driving and indiscriminate parking at
the blind spot leaving children who relied solely on these deceased
persons for sustenance.
Despite these challenges, the psycho-social
factors predicting commercial drivers’ recklessness in Lagos State have
not been studied empirically and thus the character and magnitude of the
traffic problem in the area remain unknown. It is against this backdrop
that this research seeks to investigate psychosocial factors predicting
commercial drivers’ recklessness with a special reference to Ojo LGA of
Lagos State.
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