Speeding: The everyday choice that is killing our roads

Olusegun Ogungbemide, mni, FISPON, anipr
Corps Public Education Officer, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC)

Between January and October 2025, many road users never reached their destinations. Some were heading home from work, others travelling for business or family reasons. What most of these journeys shared was excessive speed. A review of crash data for this period, compared with the same months in 2024, shows a troubling reality: nearly 85 percent of road traffic crashes were speed related. Behind these figures are lives lost, families broken, and futures cut short.

Statistics alone cannot capture the pain. Every crash represents a human story, a parent who never returned home, a child left without guidance, a family thrown into grief. Speed may seem harmless or even thrilling, but on Nigerian roads it has become a silent killer.

The Federal Road Safety Corps has repeatedly warned motorists about this danger. The Corps Marshal, Shehu Mohammed, continues to remind road users that the road is not a racetrack and that the goal of every journey is to arrive alive. Excessive speed remains the leading cause of fatal crashes nationwide.

As a new year begins, the message is clear: a crash free nation cannot be forced; it must be chosen. That choice belongs to every driver, rider, fleet operator, and pedestrian. Safety is shaped by daily decisions made behind the wheel.

Speeding creates a dangerous illusion of control. In reality, it shortens reaction time, increases stopping distance, and turns small mistakes into fatal ones. Vehicles lose stability, judgement is impaired, and minor distractions become deadly. What might have been a minor collision at moderate speed often becomes a life changing crash when speed is involved.

Beyond the wreckage lies an economic and emotional toll. Families struggle with medical bills, lost income, and trauma. Employers lose productivity, and the nation bears the cost of emergency response and healthcare. Long after the sirens fade, survivors live with fear, and families live with grief that no compensation can truly repair.

Road traffic crashes are a global challenge, which is why the United Nations declared a Decade of Action for Road Safety. Playing politics with every crash or blaming the system without addressing human behaviour will not save lives. Roads do not kill; dangerous choices do.

Government efforts to improve road infrastructure must never be taken as permission for reckless driving. Enough lives have been lost. There must be consequences for traffic violations to deter others. Our focus must remain on responsible road use.

As 2026 unfolds, the call is urgent: slow down, obey speed limits, and drive responsibly. The Federal Road Safety Corps will continue to educate, enforce, and rescue, but prevention starts with personal responsibility. A crash free nation is not a slogan; it is a shared commitment to protect life.

On our roads, speed kills quietly. Wisdom saves lives.