CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background

 Traffic accidents have been recognized as one of the major causes for human and economic losses both in developed and developing countries, therefore, they are considered as the main criterion for road safety. The three basic aspects of transport humans, roads and vehicles, are the primary factors in accidents. Human factor seems to be the dominant cause of accidents compared to the others. However, the number of accidents can be seriously reduced if the road factor is evaluated better and highway design is made correctly (kabir, 1998).

in Nigeria, the problem of traffic accidents is very huge to the extent that more than 50000 accident was recorded during the year 2012 (FRSC, 2013). These accidents caused about 7200 deaths (an average of 19 deaths from accidents every single day), 39000 injuries and social costs increasing rapidly.

In addition, the very high cost of highway accidents paid by societies around the world makes highway safety improvement an important objective of transportation engineering. Highway safety specialists can influence traffic safety either through means such as road rules, law enforcement, and education, or by applying local traffic control and geometry improvements,(Fred, 2011) .

 Therefore, highway safety must be based on both historic accident data and the risk (probability) of accidents at a location. On the other hand, numerical modelling is a common tool for estimating the frequency of road accidents. For this concern, road safety modelling has attracted considerable research interest in the past three decades because of its wide variety of applications and important practical implications. Numerous road-accident-prediction models have been developed to investigate the effects that various variables may have on the value of a pre-selected crash indicator. Transportation engineers may be interested in identifying those factors (traffic, geometric, etc.) that influence accident rates. This is to improve the design of roadways and to make driving more safer, (Udemise, 2011).

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

Motor vehicle accidents kill about 1.2 million people a year world-wide and the number will grow to more than 2 million in 2020 unless steps are taken, a study released by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the World Bank has found [Washington: Article-Traffic accidents becoming one of world's great killers, By Matthew Wald, April 8, 2004].

Road transport plays vital role in economic development, trade and social integration, which rely on the conveyance of both people and goods. Vehicular traffic carrying goods and people increases with the increasing economy resulting in an increase of traffic accidents. Three major factors causing traffic accidents are human, road and vehicles. The human factor has the most significant effect on accident. However, this factor is governed by an individual thought process and cannot be studied empirically. Moreover, any design solution mitigating this kind of individual human behaviour cannot be predicted only some safety rules can be enforced. Also, different mechanical behaviour of vehicles factors are not the scope of civil engineering study. Hence, road factors are only considered as a part of this study. It is very important for the highway to establish a harmony between the all the three factors at the design stage of a highway. With a geometrically good design, it is possible to compensate for the other factors and thus decrease the number of traffic accidents (A.F. Iyinam et al., 1997).

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

The high socio-economic cost of the injuries and fatalities, occurring due to road accidents and the need for effective policies for curbing road accidents make it imperative to study the causes of road accidents. The present study aims to detect and identify the role of geometric modeling elements on accident and prediction of accident rate.

RESERCH QUESTIONS

The research questions for this study are:

1.     What is the role of geometric modeling elements on accident?

2.     What is role of geometric modeling elements on prediction of accident rate?

SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY

In this regard our significance of study will be both on the theoretical levels and practical levels. Theoretically, this study seeks to highlight and widen scholarly perceptions Of Geometric Elements On Highways,Thus, the study will be a response to the intellectual challenges involved in enhancing an understanding of the Effects Of Highway Geometric Elements On Highway Accident.

Also, this study will be of vital importance to scholars on Geometric Elements of highways and the global reading public, and as such serve as a further take off point for future inquiry in the study under review.

SCOPE OF STUDY

The study will be conducted in Lagos Ibadan express highway. The study covered patterns Geometric Elements of the highways and the role of these elements in predicting highway accidents.

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