The Nigerian Institution of Highway and Transportation Engineers (NIHTE), Ibadan Chapter, has called for the deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) and intelligent transport systems to strengthen traffic enforcement, improve road safety and reduce violations across Nigeria.
The institution said AI-powered cameras, automated number plate recognition and other smart traffic management technologies could help detect violations, improve motorists’ compliance with traffic regulations and generate revenue for governments through penalties.
The Chairman of NIHTE, Ibadan Chapter, Lawal Sulaiman Olalekan, made the call during his inauguration as the fourth chairman at the institution’s sixth annual conference in Ibadan on Saturday.
The inauguration of the new executives was held alongside the conference, themed: “Drivers’ Traffic Violations and Their Impact on Highway Performance: Empirical Evidence from AI-Based System in Nigeria”.
Olalekan said adopting AI and intelligent transport management systems would improve safety, efficiency and sustainability across the country’s road networks.
He explained that AI-powered traffic control systems could analyse real-time data from cameras, sensors and GPS to ease congestion, predict traffic build-ups and automatically adjust traffic signals.
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According to him, the technology could reduce travel time and fuel consumption while helping to prevent road accidents associated with human error and poor traffic coordination.
He added that automated traffic enforcement could increase government revenue through fines imposed on motorists who violate traffic regulations.
“It will also lead to massive revenue generation for the government through fines from traffic violations and enforcement of road regulations.
“So, it is going to be a win-win for the government and citizens who will enjoy good traffic coordination,” he said.
The newly inaugurated chairman said his administration would prioritise members’ welfare, professional training, project supervision and technical visits.
He also pledged to strengthen collaboration with contractors, researchers and other stakeholders in the construction industry.
Guest lecturer at the event, Dr Adeolu Dina, of the Department of Transport Management, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State, said the limitations of manual traffic enforcement had created gaps in Nigeria’s road management system.
He said the economic and social costs of traffic violations were significant, stressing the need for AI-based enforcement to improve compliance.
Dina noted that countries adopting such technologies had recorded reductions in road violations.
He said road construction alone was insufficient to address transportation challenges without effective enforcement of traffic regulations and improvements in road users’ behaviour.
Dina, therefore, urged the government to formulate policies to facilitate the prompt adoption and implementation of AI-powered traffic management systems.
He said such policies should promote multidisciplinary collaboration, support the development of reliable databases and establish safeguards for data privacy.
Earlier, the National Chairman of NIHTE, Dr Bola Mudashiru, said technology alone would not eliminate traffic violations, stressing that motorists’ behaviour must also be addressed.
Mudashiru said improved road-user behaviour was essential to effective traffic management, adding that how motorists used the roads was as important as the deployment of technology.
He bemoaned some motorists’ continued disregard for traffic regulations and the rights of other road users.
According to him, AI and computer vision systems would be more effective when motorists understood that violations could be detected and penalised.
He called on governments, particularly the Oyo State Government, to increase investment in intelligent transport systems, including AI-powered cameras and automated number plate recognition (ANPR) technology.
The systems, he said, could enable authorities to monitor road users from a central control room and strengthen the enforcement of traffic regulations.
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