The Level of Compliance of Commercial Motorcyclists to Traffic Rules on Urban Roads in South Western Nigeria

The occurrence of traffic accidents involving commercial motorcyclists now characterizes urban transport in many developing countries and has become a major public concern. Yet the use of motorcycles as a means of urban transport continues to attract increasing patrons because of its flexibility and fastness in reaching less accessible parts of the cities of the third world countries. This paper examines the characteristics and the level of safety awareness of commercial motorcyclists in three major urban centres in South-Western Nigeria. Primary and secondary sources of data were used for this research. One hundred and twenty (120) well-structured questionnaires were administered on systematically selected commercial motorcyclists operating from major road junctions and motor parks in Ilesa, Iwo and Osogbo. Both descriptive and inferential statistics used in analyzing the data. The findings reveals that the “care free attitudes” of most commercial motorcyclists towards their own safety as well as their passengers is hinged on lack of adequate training and the value illegal possession of driving licenses by this category of urban transport operators. The paper advocates for policies to control, enforce and regulate the activities of commercial motorcyclists by relevant government security agencies such as the Federal Roads Safety Corps. DOI: 10.5901/jesr.2014.v4n3p34