An appraisal of Road Traffic Crashes and Safety Measures along Ilesha/Akure Highway, Nigeria

Abstract

The Ilesa-Akure highway is one of the very busy roads that are accident prone in Nigeria. This study analyzes the incidence of road traffic crashes. The focus is on the fatality, casualty and severity, as well as the perception of motorists on the causes of accidents and safety measures. Data were collected through direct observation of the road condition and stays questionnaires administered to randomly selected motorists, as well as from the records of the Federal Road Safety Corp (FRSC), Frequency counts, percentages and tabulations were used to present data focusing on accident record and computed fatality, casualty, and severity indexes for a period of 2011-2013. Also data on socio-economic characteristics of motorist and perception on causes and prevention of road of road traffic crashes was also presented. the study finds a high fatality rate of approximately one death per road traffic crash, and casualty rate of six person per road accident. It is observed that traffic crashes are caused mainly by human factors on the part of motorists and road condition. As measures to reduce accidents on the road, the study recommends regular maintenance of the road, training and retraining of motorists, and enhanced capacity of the law enforcement agencies like FRSC, among others.