The impact of drink driving on the incidence of road traffic crashes in Nigeria has been established (Abiona et al 2006, Ogazi and Edison 2012). While a variety of factors may influence drink driving, the enforcement of existing regulations that are structured to control drink-driving in Nigeria can be most effective. Till date, majority of studies have focused on the drink/driving behaviours among drivers, its prevalence and the adverse effects on the society (Abiona et al 2006, Damsere-Derry et al 2016) however, very few studies have examined the law enforcement agents in drink driving situations (Gana and Emmanuel 2014). In Nigeria, the law enforcement agents involved with the drunk driving laws include largely the members of the FRSC and Nigerian Police, and to a lesser extent a few outfits empowered by individual states and geo-political zones.
A male preponderance (83.5%), and peak age at 21 to 40 years (64.3%) among law enforcement agents is a pattern similar to what obtains among in most countries of the world (Jiabmed 2015). This may be attributed to the nature of the work, which requires substantial physical efforts, agility, and strength.
In Nigerian Universities, no direct/specific courses on Law enforcement are offered however, we judge that, closely related programs like Law, Psychology etc. could form an excellent background for a career in law enforcement. Interestingly, most respondents in this study had secondary school (High school) level education, which is the basic requirement for recruitment into the police academy till date. The FRSC on the other hand would admit only bachelor’s degree holders (with no particular reference to a specific course of study) as officers and School certificate, Diploma holders etc as Marshals. These entry requirements may account for the distribution of highest educational attainment among our respondents. Our data clearly substantiates a relatively higher level of educational attainment among members of the FRSC compared with others. We opine that highest educational attainment may be a reliable indicator of a Law enforcement agent’s knowledge and perhaps effectiveness.
Aspects of knowledge deficit: Overall our study reflects a deficit in the knowledge of drink/driving law and its fundamentals among the studied law enforcement agents. Deficits tend to be higher with reduced educational attainment. This could substantiate a case for upgrading the entry requirement into all Law enforcement agencies to bachelor’s degree. Furthermore, ensuring that members undertake additional training and regular refresher courses in relevant fields will be worthwhile. This is in agreement with the findings of Erik Fritsvold’s work (Fritsvold E 2020).
Drink driving law and penalty: - According to FRSC Act 2007, driving or attempting to drive a motor vehicle on a highway under the influence of drugs or alcohol is a traffic offence and members of the Corps shall have the power to arrest and prosecute any person suspected of having committed such traffic offence (FRSC 2018)14. Driving a motor vehicle on a highway under the influence of alcohol above 0.5 grammes per litre or to such an extent as to be incapable of having proper control of such vehicles, shall be guilty of an offence and be liable on conviction to a fine of five thousand Naira or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or to both fine and imprisonment (FRSC Act 2007). ( Appendix Table A3) With reference to this, only 5.6% of our respondents provided the correct recommended penalty for drunk driving (3.8% fine of N5000-N10,000 and 1.8% >6-18 months in jail). This is abysmally low and unacceptable.
BAC limit: Nigeria’s BAC legal limit is 0.05 g/100 ml, but only 5% of our respondents (Table 5) selected the correct BAC limit; an indication of the knowledge deficit within the law enforcement agency. They are obviously unequipped as alcohol testing equipment is unavailable, therefore unable to enforce the law. The FRSC as a federal agency dedicated to improving road safety and the clear lead agency in Nigeria (Ogazi and Edison 2012) should of provide training and of a necessity be equipped to carry out this essential duty.
Gana et al (Gana and Emmanuel 2014) identified the lack of adequately trained manpower as one of the major challenges confronting FRSC in enforcing road traffic laws. This is corroborated by our findings, which specifically focuses on drink driving law enforcement. Since some respondents were able to provide the correct answers, we could argue that the sources of knowledge, through a structured curriculum of training are possibly in place, however, their delivery and or uptake may be inconsistent, hence the irregular responses obtained. Having heard of or know BAC but lacking a thorough understanding of its details is equally disappointing. Perhaps the place of refresher courses and occasional assessment in bridging the knowledge gap and forgetfulness should be emphasized. Aside these, the conspicuous absence of hands on practice of what was taught in training and its routine use is unhelpful and thus should be addressed (Burns and Moskowitz 1977, Anderson et al 1983, Harris et al 1980).
Additionally, we see a need for every law enforcement training program in Nigeria to incorporate the knowledge, fundamentals and practice of enforcing the drink driving laws into the trainings (Burns and Moskowitz 1977, Anderson et al 1983, Harris et al 1980). Since drink driving is a major issue in Nigeria, it would only be appropriate to make this a compulsory course for all trainees and also apportion credit units commensurate with the magnitude of the problem and expectation in practice to the course.
Proper training on drink driving among the law enforcement agents will definitely improve their effectiveness in service delivery.
Detecting a drunken driver: Our subjects were not equipped with the tools necessary for determining the BAC (Appendix Figure A1). A similar report was published by Ogazi and Edison 2012 who concluded that law enforcement is weak because of unavailability of the alcohol testing equipment almost a decade ago. Unfortunately, the situation has remained essentially the same. In the absence of the right tool(s), our law enforcement agents resorted to a variety of subjective and interesting means of detecting defaulters. Alluding to testing and color change, pupil size, gait, sobering test, responses to questions, etc suggest that some or most the LEAs have the knowledge but not the tools. Detecting drunkenness from sniffing a driver’s breath for instance is not only hazardous to other road users but may be hazardous to the health of the law enforcement agents in the course of duty (Table 3, 4 and appendix Table A4). This practice is grossly inadequate, unacceptable and illegal.
Knowledge of/about the availability of Breathalyzer is deficient at all levels and this should be addressed promptly. Furthermore, the need for provision of Breathalyzer and training law enforcement agents on its use at every duty post (especially on the highway) will go a long way in ensuring that agencies perform their duties effectively as they reliably determine alcohol-impaired driving.
Being an important global health pandemic, it is important for the government and non-governmental organizations (NGO) to continue to educate the drivers and the entire public on the drink/driving laws and the appropriate penalties for offenders. More importantly law enforcement agents need to be adequately informed about the law, equipped to detect drunk driving objectively and enlightened about the acceptable penalties for offenders in Nigeria. This will definitely go a long way in reducing the prevalence of RTA due to drink/driving in Nigeria.
Conclusion and recommendations:
Having established the grossly inadequate knowledge of drink driving law and enforcement of the same by the studied law enforcement agents, we propose the following recommendations:
- Upgrading the minimum entry requirement into all types of Law enforcement agencies to bachelor’s degree.
- Ensure that members undertake additional training and regular refresher courses.
- Emphasis on hands on practice as well as occasional assessment to bridge knowledge gap.
- Incorporation of courses on fundamentals, practice and knowledge of drink driving law into the law enforcement training program in Nigeria, with credit units commensurate with the magnitude of the problem / expectation in practice.
- Provision of Breathalyzer or similar kits by Federal and State government, and training of law enforcement agents on their daily uses especially on the highway.
- Public awareness on the drink driving law and the appropriate penalties for offenders by the FRSC and concerned NGOs.
Hopefully, these should go a long way in ameliorating the situation with our drink driving law enforcement, public awareness and prevalence of RTCs attributable to drink-driving.