ASSESSMENT OF ACCIDENTS HOTSPOTS USING GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEM (GIS) TECHNIQUES IN MAPPING HIGH FREQUENCY LOCATIONS ALONG AKWANGA-GWANTU ROAD AXIS, NASARAWA/KADUNA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

Road traffic accidents have been recognized as one of those adverse elements which contribute to the suffocation of economic growth in the developing countries due to the heavy loss related to them, this causes social and economic concern. Traffic safety is an important key and plays an integral role in sustainable transportation development. Now days, the main negative impact of modern road transportation systems are loss of property, injuries and death. Accidents along Akwanga-Gwantu road axis has increased, traffic flows have also increase causing traffic congestion and increase in road accidents. This research work assessment of accidents hotspot using Geographic Information System (GIS), the accident data used for the study are obtained from Federal Road Safety unit commands in Akwanga- Gwantu office. Global positioning system (GPS) was used to collect the coordinates of the accident locations. the accident data were evaluated in ArcGIS 10.5 software environment. Queries and Kernal Density Estimention (KDE) were used to determine the accident hotspots, Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Accident Point Weightage (APW) formula was used to the rank the accident hotspots. Image interpretation was also carried out to identify the characteristics of the road. The results of the study showed that over-speeding (35.8%), tyre burst (14.8%), loss of control (15.4%), and dangerous driving (10.3%) were the major causes of accidents along the route. The study also discovered that Gwanje, Ningo bend, College of education, Akwanga are the most dangerous locations along the study route. Finally, characteristics of the road such as Bridges (7.2%), build-up areas (48.5%), were the causes of accident while, sharp bend (21.7%), potholes (22.6%), also contributes significantly to accidents along the axis. It therefore, recommended that new road be constructed, road infrastructure such as signs and bridges should be adequately maintained and if possible, improved upon along the entire route. Moreover, infrastructure such as road signs and hotspots indicators or alert system be provided in locations where accidents is prone.