Introduction: The number of deaths due to trauma from road traffic accidents (RTAs), and from the use of firearms either for homicide or armed robbery, ethnic conflicts, and other events, such as flooding, explosions from petroleum products, and religious violence, is on the rise in Nigeria. This preliminary study is a comparative analysis of the frequency of deaths caused by RTAs and the deaths caused by the use of firearms during armed robbery. The study sought to identify the number of traumatic deaths caused by RTAs or armed robbery as well as the number of victims who sustained injuries in the process of RTA or armed robberies.
Methods: An indigenous, non-governmental organization (NGO) network was used to abstract data for the frequency of RTAs associated with death or injuries and for deaths caused by armed robberies and was supplemented with data obtained from the Nigerian police.
Results: For RTAs, the victims included drivers, passengers, and pedestrians. In 3,032 cases of RTAs, the total number of deaths was 1,239 (29.1%): one Nigerian dies for every three to four crashes. The total number of deaths due to RTAs was significantly higher than was the number of deaths due to the use of firearms in commission of robbery. Police reports relative to the use of firearms during armed robberies indicate that of a total of the 652 victims who were killed, 348 (68.1%) were the armed robbers, 134 (26.2%) were bystanders, and 29 (5.7%) were policemen.
Conclusions: The enormity of the problems of traumatic deaths from RTAs and armed robberies in a developing country has been highlighted.