Accidents can be avoided if necessary precautions are taken into consideration. However, it is a pity that the safety of children on Nigerian roads is often not considered by many, a terrible oversight that has led to several avoidable fatal accidents involving children. Uche Uduma gives more insight into the situation.
It is estimated that 1.3 million people die on the road each year, out of which ninety per cent of the deaths recorded are in developing countries like Nigeria, while a good number of the victims involved in these accidents are children, many of whom cross the road while coming back from school and others being chauffeured by their parents.
Parents primarily have the responsibility to ensure the safety of their children, and also protect them from hazards such as accidents; however, some parents have continued to risk the safety of their children, exposing them to avoidable dangers.
This was the case of Michael Acha, a young bubbly three years old boy who went out with his mother on a fun ride, oblivious of what would happen in the course of the ride to their destination.
Michael’s mother Wendy Acha for reasons one can’t fathom decided not to fasten her son’s seatbelt as she raced along Mabushi expressway with the windows of her car wind down.
Just as they were approaching Zankli Hospital, the fun ride took a sad turn as a vehicle on top speed which probably lost its control, veered off towards their car, the young mother desperately tried to avert a collision with the car in vain as the vehicle rammed into her car, crashing a part of the vehicle, leaving little Michael flying out through the window and hitting his head on the tarred road on the impact of the crash.
Little Michael died as a result of the accident which could have been avoided if the mother had fastened his seatbelt. Expressing grief on Facebook social network, Jude Achathe father of Michael lamented: “Michael meant the whole world to me”
This, like many other fatal accidents involving children, could be avoided if necessary precautions are taken and safety measures obeyed.
In most countries not ensuring the safety of your child while driving orleaving a childto use the highways unguarded is regarded as a criminal offence which can lead to the child being taken away from their parents on the grounds of negligence.
However, this carelessness is painfully overlooked in Nigeria despite the grave consequences it could have on children if they are hit by a speeding vehicle. Even safety signs which are supposed to be provided at strategic locations often used by children such as schools, churches, mosques and streets to protect children from accidents, are conspicuously absent in most areas where they are needed.??
The indifference to safety shown by the society and many parents has remained a worrying glitch as traffic accident involving children continues to take an upward turn. Time and again are people seen flouting safety measures without blinking an eye.
In as much as sitting at the front seat of a car poses a lot of dangers to the passengers seated in the front seats especially children and women with babies,? Nigerian women are caught in a weird obsession to seat at the front with their little children, not minding the dangers it may pose to them and their babies.
Many parents are also seen with their children trying to crossthe highways in the Federal Capital Territory without using pedestrian bridges not minding the fact that millions of naira has been spent by the government to construct pedestrian bridges at strategic places in the FCT?
Mr. Abdullahi Yahaya, the coordinator, Child Safety Initiative, an NGO while speaking with LEADERSHIP SUNDAY emphasised that parents should be encouraged to ensure the safety of their children. According to him, “It is against the law for children to seat in cars without wearing a safety belt and it is also encouraged that car seats are placed for the children to be seated on, so as to make them visible to other road users.
When children are seated at the back and well strapped, they have better chance of avoiding debris in situations where a car is involved in a head-on-collision with another car as debris coming through the windshield may not reach the back seat.”
Yahaya went further to point out the importance of putting the children’s safety first. “That when children are allowed to seat in the front seat and aren’t properly restrained, they are exposed to several dangers such as being hit by airbags in slightest collision; easily being thrown into the dashboard or ejected from the car through the windshield and also the danger of glass from the windshield being blown back into the car at the occurrence of crash.”
Although considerable efforts have been made by stakeholders to ensure the safety of children on Nigerian roads, however more efforts are required to protect the children from road accidents.
LEADERSHIP SUNDAY was out to find out how conscious parents are toward the safety of their children on the road.? Mrs. Ifunnaya Mokwe, a teacher in one of the primary schools in Abuja explained that it is the duty of parents to ensure the safety of their children on the road however most parents allow their children to play about in the car.
According to her, “some parents are just lackadaisical about the safety of their children and wards, we see them very often coming to pick their children from school only to allow them jump around in the cars, we even passed a circular to the parents to tell them to always make sure their children are well strapped to the car seat to avoid accidents, but some parents are not just bothered. We also go an extra mile to teach the children how to use the road and how to behave when they are in a moving car.”
Mrs. Vivian Uzor, a civil servant based in Kubwa, says the issue of safety shouldn’t be left for the road safety commission or government alone. According to her, “parents should be very conscious of the safety of their children on the road; it should not be left on the shoulders of the road safety authorities or government alone.
It is our duty as parents to protect the children and see that they are safe from harm, sometimes you see some parents sending little children on errand across a busy road, this is very wrong,” she said.