Extended Abstract Introduction The evolution of state-owned traffic management began in Nigeria in 2000. Within twenty-five years, virtually all states of the federation have established a Corps to complement FRSC in minimising road traffic crashes among others, the first set of the state to establish road safety agencies were in southwest Nigeria with Lagos leading in the year 2000, followed by Ogun state in 2005, Ondo in 2006,Oyo in 2009, Ekiti and Osun state in 2013. The establishment of a lead agency in road traffic management is one of the pillars of the UN Decade of Action on Road Safety, which targeted a 50 percent reduction in road crash statistics in 2020 and by extension 2030. Globally very few high-income countries were able to meet this target in the first phase while several low-income countries of which Nigeria is one are still far from the target. This study aims to investigate the effect of the proliferation on road safety outcomes in Nigeria. The study selected the six southwest states, and assessed the establishment, functions, and operations of the agencies, vis-a-vis the road crash casualty, and fatality per crash in the last five years (2020-2024). Materials and Methods The study selected the six southwest states in Nigeria, which include Ekiti, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, and Oyo state, and obtained Secondary road traffic crash data attributed to the state from the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) portal. The data were re-organised into state by state, with variables such as total crash cases, number injured, the number killed, and total casualty. Each state road safety situation was described using the frequency table, and fatality and casualty rates were computed as a function of the number of road crash cases that occurred per year. The pattern of outcome (fatality and casualty) over five years, was obtained through trend analysis using MS Excel charts. Result and Discussion Findings revealed that the newest state agency is over 10 years old, and all agencies perform similar functions of ensuring smooth road traffic flow through monitoring and control of traffic, and reduction in road traffic crashes. They also adopt similar operational procedures of arrest and imposition of monetary fines on road traffic offenders. There is a relatively low rate of casualty of 2 - 3 per crash, and fatality is 4-5 per crash among states. Conclusions The study concluded that the proliferation of state-owned traffic management has relatively similar road safety outcomes in southwest, Nigeria, and it is therefore recommended that a comparative study of pre and post establishment be carried out, also collaborative strategy among state and federal agencies is recommend to achieve national road safety improvement. Keywords Casualty, Fatality, Road Safety, Traffic Management.
Ajala A.T, Shodipo K. A.