Annals of the Social Science Academy of Nigeria 12(1) 2000 DOI: 10.36108/ssan/0002.21.0140
Recent Trends in Road Traffic Accident Parameters in Nigeria
O. S. Akpoghomeh
Department of Geography, University of Port Harcourt, Port Harcourt, Nigeria
Abstract
This study aims at examining the nature of the rising trends in road traffic accident phenomenon in Nigeria, using data for the period 1990 1995. It examines the spatiotemporal variations of road traffic accident parameters, in addition to studying the fatality (severity) and injury indices as well as the health risk for each state, and the country in general. The
paper observes a downward trend in all road traffic accident parameters, with fatal and serious cases declining as much as 33% and 24% respectively, although, the number of person killed during the period experienced an increase. Regionally, the performance varied among the states of the country, with Lagos, Ogun, Niger, Edo, Kano, Kogi, Delta, Jigawa, Sokoto, Cross River States and Abuja (Federal Capital Territory) recording high trends in all cases. These states thus need some more attention from all the agents of road safety in the country. The study concludes that, in addition to the behavioural modification approach which has not been emphasized enough, a lot more still needs to be done in such areas as maintenance of road transport infrastructure, vehicle road worthiness inspection, driver retraining and potential driver training, pedestrian education proper accident data collection, recording, storage and retrieval and finally law enforcement.