The Interference of Financial Obligations and Institutional Governance on Road Safety Outcomes in Nigeria

Road traffic crashes in developing countries are one of the major triggers by unsafe driving behaviour among commercial transport drivers. Although the conventional research mainly focuses on the driver error and vehicle inadequacy, this research paper explores the institutional context, which is the interference of transport unions and law enforcement agencies. Based on the structured questionnaires filled in by 735 stakeholders in Kaduna Metropolis (collected between November 2024 and January 2025), the analysis was based on descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, and comparative stakeholder analysis. The results indicate that institutional barriers such as financial strains imposed by the unions and enforcement bottlenecks are serious obstacles towards compliance in traffic regulations and by extension road safety. Financial obligations to unions, government and vehicle owners were found to have a significant relationship with unsafe driving. Influence is also found to mar the effectiveness of road law enforcement initiatives. The results also add to the political economy of road safety by promoting the institutional changes that would be aimed at aligning the organizational structures with the safety goals. Digitisation of revenue, enforcement autonomy and union-led safety initiatives were identified as measures that could improve the safety consciousness of drivers in Nigeria.

Road Safety, Driver Behaviours, Financial burdens, Road accidents

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