SPATIO-TEMPORAL PATTERN OF ROAD TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS IN KADUNA STATE, NIGERIA

No Thumbnail Available
Date
2017-11
Authors
ABDULNAJEEM, MOHAMMED LAWAL
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Road traffic accidents (RTAs) are often found to follow some spatial and temporal patterns as the factors that influence them vary over space and time. This study analyzed road traffic accidents in time and space, using Remote Sensing and GIS technique. The study area involves two major highways in Kaduna state; Kaduna to Birnin Gwari (single carriage way) popularly known as Lagos Road and Kaduna to Tarfa (dual carriage way) linking Abuja,covers an approximate distance of 121km and 138km respectively. Road traffic accidents data were collected from the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) from year 2010 to 2014. Field survey was also carried out through which the geographical coordinates of road traffic accident locations were captured using GPS receiver, traffic count, as well as on the spot field observation. Data were analysed using the Kernel Density Estimation method and Nearest Neighbour Ratio in ArcGIS 10.1 environment to determine the road accidents hotspots and pattern; while frequency distribution tables and charts were used to depict the accidents distribution. The findings revealed that the Kaduna-Abuja road had more vehicular traffic than Kaduna-Birnin Gwari road with similar gradual increase of traffic volume between 7am-8am along the two routes till they hit their various morning peaks. The composition of vehicular traffic flow shows that private cars accounted for the most along Kaduna-Abuja (29.2%) and Kaduna-Birnin Gwari (22.6%) roads respectively. Kaduna-Abuja road had 66% of the total number of recorded accidents with over-speeding and tyre-burst been the major causes of road traffic accidents. About 69.3% of persons involved in road accidents were along Kaduna-Abuja road and 79.6% of them were males. The findings revealed that the highest number of road traffic accidents were recorded in the year 2011, accounting for 37.8% of the total number of recorded accidents along Kaduna-Abuja road; whereas for same period it was 47.4% along Kaduna-Birnin Gwari road. On road traffic accident severity index, Kaduna-Birnin Gwari road had the highest (127,2%) in the study area. The clustering pattern of Road Traffic Accident shows that the Kaduna-Abuja road had 0.135346 of nearest neighbour index while the Kaduna-Birnin Gwari road got 0.229775,with a z-score of -23.970816 and -15.170547 respectively. Eight different hotspots were identified along Kaduna-Abuja road, while Kaduna-Birnin Gwari road had only six hotspots. The only accident high risk area identified along the routes was Toll Gate hotspot, located along the Kaduna-Abuja road The study therefore recommends among others, the use of speed limit devices by drivers, public education programme by FRSC on road safety, expansion of narrow bridges, road repairs and realignment of sharp bends on the roads.
Description
A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE SCHOOL OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES, AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF MASTER OF SCIENCE DEGREE IN REMOTE SENSING AND GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEM DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT FACULTY OF PHYSICAL SCIENCES AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA, NIGERIA
Keywords
SPATIO-TEMPORAL PATTERN,, ROAD TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS,, KADUNA STATE,, NIGERIA
Citation
Collections