ROAD CRASHES DATA COLLECTION AND MANAGEMENT THROUGH MOBILE APPLICATION

Abstract

A pen-paper approach has been traditionally recognized as the mode of data collection for road traffic crashes in Nigeria which is prone to errors and human interference. Thus, the quality of the data is questionable. As part of the effort to achieve the third goal, target number 6 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which aim to halve the number of global deaths and injuries from road traffic crashes by 2020, a state-art methodology of data collection is inevitable. Subsequent recommendations from literatures and interrogation from the relevant agencies assigned to road traffic management have suggested the importance of an advanced method to bridge the short-coming of the present method. In this work, a mobile application for road traffic crashes data collection and management is developed. Nine (9) years (1996-2015) data were collected from the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) to determine the trend and distribution of road traffic crash in the country under the year in view. The possible determinants of road crashes were also explored using the Method of Ordinary Least Square (OLS) and Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) on raw data from Annual Abstracts of Statistic (a publication of the Nigerian Bureau of statistics). The derived intermediate results as well as the primary data obtained from the officials of the FRSC was used as a model to develop the mobile application system using survey 123®. The result showed that there were high cases of road crashes in FCT. Similarly, Kaduna, Nasarawa, Ogun, Kano, Kogi and Lagos reported relatively high incidences of road crashes. FCT, Kaduna and Kogi States shows high trend in casualties from road crashes incidence while Bauchi, Edo, Kano, Nassarawa, Niger, Ogun, Ondo and Oyo also reported relatively high number of casualties. The deaths reported from road crashes also follow the same trend of casualties. Analysis of abstract of statistics indicate that Number of local Government area, Distance to Abuja, Number of Vehicle registered, Population density, and Gross Domestic Products are possible determinants of the observed cases in order of influence. The developed system was able to collect all of the required information about a particular crash incidence including the geographical coordinate and relevant photographs. These data were collected and stored in digital formats in the spatial database that is flexible enough to facilitate a wide range of queries and analysis relevant to road safety issues. The developed application has proven to be efficient by providing an effective means for data collection, collation and management. Thereby ensuring a better and easier working system for agencies involved in road safety and in the actualization of the sustainable development goals.