Abstract
The advantage of automobile transportation does not overcome its shortcomings. Foremost among these is road traffic accident which is serious cause of death in the whole world today. This study examined and mapped rate of reported cases of road accidents across the 36 States and the federal capital of Nigeria between 2013 and 2015. Data acquired from Federal Bureau of Statistics was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistical methods. Bar charts, graphs, dot map and thematic map were prepared to depict the spatial distribution of the occurrences and fatality classification while regression analysis was used to predict the future situation of road accident in Nigeria. Results showed that; highest rate of accidents 36.9% occurred in the year 2013 with 5,539 deaths. Ogun State recorded highest number of accidents with 9.7% in 2013, Lagos State with 15.4% in 2014 and Ogun State with 6.1% in 2015 which can be attributed to the strategic position of these two States as the gate ways to Nigeria economy. The regression result shows the strong positive relationship between numbers of recorded cases of road accident and death from road traffic accident with regression R value of 0.78 and R<sup>2</sup> of 0.61 respectively.
Highlights
The quest for the faster movement of people and goods from one place to the other gave birth to the invention of automobile as the major carrier of road transport dated back to 1769 [4]
Bar charts and time series graphs were used to present the results showing the comparative analysis of the reported cases of road traffic accidents, severities and the casualties recorded in Nigeria in 2013, 2014 and 2015 respectively
Graphs were plot depicting the severity of the road accidents in these three years
Summary
The quest for the faster movement of people and goods from one place to the other gave birth to the invention of automobile as the major carrier of road transport dated back to 1769 [4]. The invention of automobile engine has experienced several improvements at different period of time to improve its service delivery in terms of flexibility of the mode, speed, and conveniences. This advancement in the automobile technology is advantageous to the humanity but have great demerits foremost among which is road accident which is one of the serious cause of death throughout the world [1, 3]. International Road Federation, Geneva centre [10], reported approximately 2.4 million people had died in road accident in the world with the annual record rate of 1.3 million deaths and daily record of 3,000 deaths. The worst scenario of death and sustained injuries owing to road traffic accident occur in the low income countries of the world as a result of deplorable road conditions and vehicles that plight these roads and noncompliance to the traffic rules by the road users [6, 10]
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