It is not an exaggeration to say that the average Nigerian driver often behaves like an unintentional suicide risk. The danger does not usually come from mechanical failure or acts of fate but from our everyday recklessness and collective disregard for the basic rules that govern road use. We eat while driving. We drink while driving. We answer phone calls, scroll social media, record videos, and even livestream while behind the wheel. Each act may appear trivial in isolation, yet together they form a culture of danger that has turned Nigerian roads into silent killing fields.
This recklessness is not limited to private motorists. More alarming is its prevalence among commercial and public transport drivers. These are men entrusted with the lives of dozens of passengers at a time. Many buses and taxis are driven by individuals under the influence of alcohol or stimulants meant to suppress fatigue. Many drive while visibly disoriented, overtaking recklessly, ignoring speed limits, and treating traffic laws as optional suggestions rather than binding rules. In these moments, not only are passengers endangered, but every other road user becomes collateral damage.
The consequences of this culture become clearer when Nigerians who have driven for years at home attempt to transition to driving abroad. It is common to hear complaints about how difficult the United Kingdom driving test is, or how “unnecessarily strict” European road rules appear. Some even boast of having driven long distances across Nigeria, from Lagos to Lapai or Yaba to Yenagoa, yet repeatedly fail driving tests overseas. This disconnect is not mysterious. It is the product of an anything-goes road culture that rewards improvisation, aggression, and rule-breaking—habits that are unacceptable in systems where driving violations attract serious penalties, including criminal charges, licence suspension, and imprisonment.
Unmistakably, in many developed societies, traffic laws are enforced not just to punish but to preserve life. Speeding, distracted driving, drunk driving, and reckless overtaking are treated as public safety threats. In Nigeria, by contrast, enforcement is inconsistent, sanctions are weak, and accountability is rare. The result is predictable: violations multiply, recklessness normalises, and tragedy follows.
Data from the Federal Road Safety Corps underscores the human dimension of this crisis. The Corps has repeatedly attributed most road crashes to human behaviour, noting that more than 80 per cent of road traffic accidents in Nigeria are caused by drivers’ behaviour, such as speeding, fatigue, use of mobile phones while driving, and overloading.
Between January and September 2025 alone, the FRSC recorded 7,715 road crashes nationwide, resulting in 3,915 deaths and 24,674 injuries. Figures that represent double-digit increases compared with the same period in 2024.
Disturbingly, this culture of road misuse has begun to find visible expression among celebrities, entertainers, and social media influencers, whose actions carry disproportionate influence. When public figures flout road safety rules, they not only endanger themselves; they legitimise dangerous behaviour in the eyes of millions who watch, admire, and imitate them.
In recent months, several high-profile incidents have brought this issue into sharper focus. In November 2025, controversial disc jockey and TikTok personality Ademola Abiodun, popularly known as DJ Chicken, was reportedly involved in a serious road accident in Sagamu, during which a woman was said to have sustained fractures.
Barely weeks later, another accident involving him was reported in Lekki. These incidents followed earlier allegations circulating in the media, including reports that he had previously been accused of a hit-and-run. Whether all allegations are proven or not, the pattern itself raises troubling questions about accountability and repeat risk.
Similarly tragic was the death of fast-rising skit maker Raji Samad Adetola, known as Mr Sanku Comedy, who lost his life in September 2025, following a car accident along the Ogbomoso–Oyo Road.
According to eyewitness accounts, the vehicle veered off the road and somersaulted. Though rushed to the hospital, he was pronounced dead, while another occupant sustained injuries. His death tells us how fragile life becomes when road safety fails.
Earlier in the year, skit maker and musician Lawal Nasiru, popularly called Nasboi, narrowly escaped death during a nationwide tour. His vehicle was reportedly crushed beneath a heavy-duty truck, leaving it badly damaged. He survived, but survival should not be mistaken for safety. Near misses are warnings, not victories.
Last weekend, Saturday, December 13, 2025, popular TikTok livestreamer Habeeb Hamzat, known as Peller, crashed on the Lekki–Epe Expressway while broadcasting live on Instagram. The incident reportedly unfolded during a moment of emotional distress, with distraction at its core. Survival, in this case, does not cancel the danger he posed to himself or to other road users on that unforgiving stretch of road.
Taken together, these incidents reveal more than individual misjudgment. They expose a deeper systemic failure. Nigeria’s road safety crisis is sustained by weak enforcement, poor infrastructure, and an alarming tolerance for preventable danger. While bad roads undeniably contribute to accidents, FRSC and road safety experts consistently emphasise that human factors (speeding, distracted driving, alcohol and drug influence, and fatigue) remain the leading causes of road crashes in the country.
Sadly, sanctions remain inadequate. Too often, offenders walk away with warnings, token fines, or nothing at all. Celebrities are rarely made examples of, even when their actions are publicly documented. In this vacuum of accountability, recklessness thrives.
The role of the Federal Road Safety Corps and other regulatory bodies must, therefore, be interrogated. Public education campaigns exist, but enforcement remains uneven. Surveillance is weak. Prosecutions are rare. Consistent and transparent enforcement is the difference between road safety as policy rhetoric and road safety as lived reality.
Celebrities, too, must recognise the burden of visibility. Influence without responsibility is dangerous. When entertainers livestream while driving, speed on highways, or trivialise accidents as content, they contribute to a culture that normalises risk and mocks caution. Fame does not confer immunity from physics or mortality.
Nigeria’s road crisis is not only about infrastructure or institutions. It is about values. It is about whether human life is treated as sacred or expendable. Where recklessness attracts no real consequences and responsibility is unfashionable, death becomes a regular feature of our roads.
Driving is not a performance. The road is not a studio. And survival should never depend on luck.
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