ASSESSMENT OF MOTORISTS’ COMPLIANCE TO SEAT BELT REGULATION IN NIGERIA

The work is an attempt to assess the level of compliance by motorists to seat belt regulation in Nigeria. Specifically it evaluates the seat belts usage rates along Enugu- Port Harcourt, ENUPHC and Port Harcourt- Enugu, PHC-ENU traffic corridors based on vehicle type and front seat occupants. Data was collected from two sites at Osisioma junction in Aba Abia state, Nigeria by direct observations at designated points. The findings of the observation were treated with percentage analysis where each category of vehicle is treated separately with percentage table analysis. Results on the road side observation survey of seat belt use revealed that wearing seat belt along Enugu- Port Harcourt, ENU-PHC and Port Harcourt- Enugu, PHC-ENU traffic corridor is very low. The overall wearing rate for the aforementioned routes was 24.8%, 26.0% and 23.8% for all occupants, drivers and front seat passengers respectively. It is concluded that the overall wearing rates were consistently higher for drivers than for front seat passengers in most vehicle categories and routes sampled. Thus we recommend that the enforcement officials pay close attention to taxis, buses, luxury buses, pickup/vans, trucks and articulated vehicle occupants who tend to significantly show lower seat belt use since this can save more lives when these types of vehicles get involved in traffic crashes.