Road traffic accidents remain a major challenge of transportation with causes ranging from mechanical to human errors. However, driver literacy is identified as a potential determinant of drivers’ capacity to interpret and apply formal and informal safety rules in order to avert road traffic accident. Thus, this study examined the impact of commercial drivers’ literacy level on road safety rules awareness and compliance in Ogbomoso, Oyo State, Nigeria. A quantitative research design was employed, and data were collected from a sample of 300 randomly selected commercial drivers with structured questionnaire. Constructs were measured using a five-point Likert scale, and data were analyzed with Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Reliability and Validity was confirmed, with Cronbach’s alpha values above 0.80, Composite Reliability between 0.87 and 0.89, and Average Variance Extracted (AVE) values above 0.58. The findings show that drivers’ literacy level had a strong positive effect on awareness (β = 0.753, CR = 7.854, p < 0.001) and on compliance (β = 0.705, CR = 7.571, p < 0.001). Awareness also significantly influenced compliance (β = 0.630, p < 0.001) and mediated the relationship between literacy and compliance. The finding of the study affirmed confirmed that literacy served as the foundation for awareness and compliance among commercial drivers in Ogbomoso, Oyo State, Nigeria. The study concluded that improved literacy strengthens both awareness and compliance with road safety rules. It is recommended that government should: integrate basic literacy test into drivers licensing issuing, also adopts simplified awareness campaigns, and embedding literacy initiatives into national road safety policies.