TITLE PAGE
A STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF ROAD ACCIDENTS IN
NIGERIA
(FEDERAL
ROAD SAFETY CORPS ONITSHA, ANAMBRA STATE 2002-2015)
CHAPTER ONE
1.0.
INTRODUCTION
Road transportation is by far the commonest means of
transportation in Nigeria when compared to other means like air, rail and
water. The technology has made life easy compared to previous means of
transportation such as the use of animals during the pre colonial era. Nigerian
economy despite its flaws, has afforded a large number of its populace the
means to own cars making road traffic a major problem with grave disadvantages.
In
Nigeria, road accidents have been a disturbing phenomenon that has constituted
a menace. It is generally believed but not statistically proven that the rate
of road accidents in Nigeria has geometrically increased. Road accidents are
caused by various reasons, ranging from carelessness on the part of the drivers
to the deplorable nature of our roads. Put differently, Nigerian roads have
become killing fields without protection for their users. Travellers heave a
sigh of relief if they make their destinations. The worrisome trend has
tremendous negative impact on the nation’s health system as well as its social
and economic aspirations. It was
estimated that the total number of registered vehicles in Nigeria rose between
1990 – 2006 from 700,000 to 6,000,000 (Umar 2010). Despite the happiness this
brought and change of quality of family lives associated with owning a vehicle,
its possession has made so many families bereaved of their breadwinners or
lovely ones due to unprecedented rate of road traffic accidents in Nigeria.
According to the Federal Road Safety Commission, not less than 88,520 road
users lost their lives between 1991 and 2000 alone, most victims being between
20-40 years. There is need to view road accident as a very
major issue requiring urgent attention aimed at preventing premature deaths,
reducing the health, social and economic impacts it portends to the average
Nigerian. This disturbing assertion
will be the bedrock of our statistical study on road accidents in Nigeria.
1.1
STATEMENT OF GENERAL PROBLEM
In
Nigeria today, the issue of road accidents have become a teething problem.
There has been a major problem of the cardinal factors responsible for road
accidents in Nigeria. Another problem is to know if accidents in Nigeria are
related to sex, age and educational background of road users. There is also
confusion as to the major causes of road accidents in Nigeria. The above
problems have been our chief motivators in undertaking this statistical
research work.
1.2. AIMS AND
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
This
study is aimed at establishing the following factors:
To
know if road accidents in Nigeria are gender based, that is, do female road
users fall victim of road accidents than their male counterparts?
To equally know if road accidents in Nigeria
are age based.
To ascertain if there is a statistical
significant relationship between educational background and road accidents in
Nigeria.
To
know if record of road accidents in Nigeria has increased or not.
To
educate Nigerians and those interested in this study on the outcome of our
research
1.3.
SIGNIFICANCE
OF THE STUDY
One
major significance of this study is to educate millions of Nigerians on the
main causes of road accidents and ways to prevent or reduce them on our roads.
Another significance of this study is to know if the number of road accidents
has increased overtime. Thirdly, to know if the reported number of road
accidents in Nigeria is gender based and also to know if there is a
relationship between educational background and road accidents in Nigeria. We
are also interested in knowing the major causes of road accidents in Nigeria so
as to educate the Nigeria populace.
1.4.
SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
For
the purpose of this study as the topic depicts, the scope of the essay will be
focused on the statistical analysis on the causes of road accidents in Nigeria.
To know the relationship between bio- data factors and road accidents in
Nigeria, that is, knowing if there is a relationship between age, educational
background and gender on road accidents in Nigeria.
LIMITATIONS OF THE
STUDY
It
is necessary to mention some of the limitation of this research work. One of the
major limitations is in the getting relevant educational materials used in the
research work. Another limitation of
this research work is the difficulty in obtaining relevant information in that
a few of our values were missing but these missing values were not statistical significant enough to be noticed.
It
is hoped that despite this limitations, the study would still be useful to
Nigerians, organizations etc.
1.5 DEFINITION OF
TERMS
Accident: an
unpleasant event especially in a vehicle, that happens unexpectedly and causes
injury or damage
Road accident: a
traffic accident involving vehicles, pedestrians or cyclists.
RESEARCH HYPOTHESES
HYPOTHESIS 1
H0:
there is no
significant relationship between age and road accidents in Nigeria.
H1: there is significant relationship between age and road
accidents in Nigeria.
Level of significance: 0.05
Decision rule: reject H0 if p-value is less than the level of
significance. Accept H0 if otherwise.
HYPOTHESIS 2
H0:
there is no
significant relationship between educational background and road accidents in
Nigeria.
H1: there is significant relationship between educational
background and road accidents in Nigeria.
Level of significance: 0.05
Decision rule: reject H0 if p-value is less than the level of
significance. Accept H0 if otherwise.
HYPOTHESIS 3
H0:
there is no
significant relationship between gender and road accidents in Nigeria.
H1: there is significant relationship
between gender and road accidents in Nigeria.
Level of significance: 0.05
Decision rule: reject H0 if p-value is less than the level of
significance. Accept H0 if otherwise.