By Olusegun Ogungbemide, Corps Public Education Officer, FRSC
An analysis of road traffic crash data between January and October 2025, compared with the same period in 2024, presents a grim and instructive picture. While figures fluctuate and charts vary, one disturbing reality remains constant: nearly 85 per cent of recorded crashes during the period were speed-related.
Behind these statistics are shattered lives and broken dreams journeys abruptly ended, promises unfulfilled, and families forever changed. Speeding may appear invisible or even exhilarating, but on Nigerian roads it has become a silent killer, unleashing tragedy without warning.
The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has consistently raised the alarm on this preventable danger. The Corps Marshal, Shehu Mohammed, has repeatedly cautioned motorists that excessive speed remains the deadliest behaviour on the nation’s highways, reminding road users that the road is not a racetrack and that arriving alive is the true measure of a successful journey.
As the new year unfolds with renewed national resolve, the message from the FRSC leadership is clear: the vision of a crash-free nation cannot be forced into existence it must be consciously chosen. That choice lies with every driver, rider, fleet operator and pedestrian who uses the road daily.
At the heart of this crisis is a dangerous illusion. Speed compresses time and removes options. At high velocity, reaction time shrinks, braking distance increases, and minor errors escalate into fatal outcomes. Vehicles lose stability, tyres lose grip, and the human body fragile by nature—is exposed to forces it cannot withstand. What might have been a minor collision at moderate speed often becomes a life-altering or fatal crash when speed takes control. Reckless overtaking, impaired judgement and momentary distractions become irreversible decisions.
Beyond the mangled vehicles and shattered glass lies a quieter but profound economic toll. Speed-induced crashes drain household savings through medical bills, vehicle repairs and loss of income.
They reduce workplace productivity and impose heavy costs on the nation through increased healthcare spending, emergency response and infrastructure repairs. Every crash diverts scarce public resources that could otherwise build schools, strengthen hospitals or improve road networks. Speeding does not only take lives; it mortgages the future.
Long after the sirens fade, the psychological scars remain. Survivors live with trauma and fear, while families grapple with grief, guilt and unanswered questions. Children grow up with empty seats at dinner tables; parents age under the weight of loss; communities mourn quietly. These are wounds no insurance policy can fully heal.
In cases where lives are lost, families inherit sudden and overwhelming burdens—lost breadwinners, disrupted dreams and altered destinies. Society also pays the price as talents are cut short, productivity declines and confidence in road safety is shaken.
It is time for a collective national response that confronts the problem head-on rather than politicising every crash. Road traffic crashes are a global challenge, one that led to the establishment of the United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety. Continually shifting blame to the system without addressing the root causes particularly human behaviour will not deliver safer roads.
Government efforts to improve road infrastructure should never be interpreted as a licence for speed or recklessness. There must be accountability and consequences for traffic infractions to serve as deterrents. Instead of attacking the system, attention must focus on the road user who fails to do the right thing.
As 2026 progresses, the call is urgent and unmistakable: slow down, obey speed limits and drive to arrive alive. The FRSC will continue to educate, enforce and rescue, but prevention ultimately begins with personal responsibility. A crash-free nation is not a slogan it is a shared commitment to restraint, care and conscience.
On our roads, speed kills silently. Wisdom saves lives.
