THE IMPACT OF FEDERAL ROAD SAFETY AWARENESS TEXTS ON THE LEVEL OF ROAD ACCIDENTS IN NIGERIA: A SEMIOTIC INVESTIGATION

Abstract

The major focus of this study is to ascertain the impact of federal road safety awareness texts on the level of road accidents in Nigeria from a semiotic perspective. The study is motivated by the observation that despite government’s efforts to disseminate information on road safety through road signs embedded in FRSC manual the number of people involved in road traffic accidents continue to rise every year. The specific objective of this study is to ascertain how icon, indexical and symbolic sign are interpretable by road users as well as to determine additional or alternative lexical/grammatical features that can be used to complement and substitute the existing road signs for more effective interpretation by road users.The present study employed a qualitative research design. The population of this study comprise 50 motorists in Onitsha metropolis. Usingpurposive sampling technique 43 road awareness texts selected from the FRSC Highway Code were used as a thematic model to obtain the views of the motorists. This study affirmed that the language of a road traffic code is signs-dependent. These signs are intended to identify and warn road users against specific hazards without the use of words. They may also describe safety precautions, advise users on the actions to take, or provide other directions that can eliminate or reduce hazards. This study discovered that the level of awareness of drivers is a serious impediment to drivers understanding of road signs. This study recommends that road signs should be redesigned in a manner that could be easily understood by all categories of road users.