ASSESSMENT OF ROAD TRAFFIC CRASHES ( RTC) AND ITS MANAGEMENT IN LAGOS STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study aimed to assess road traffic crashes (RTC) and its management in Lagos State, Nigeria. Specifically, it evaluates the causes of vehicular crashes in Lagos Metropolitan city. The study also examines how traffic situations were managed. Furthermore, it investigates the extent of inter-agency cooperation for managing RTC in the Lagos metropolis. The study employed the use of primary data whereby questionnaires were administered to respondents who were road users. Questionnaire was also administered to traffic management agencies in Lagos state. Findings revealed that bad road (p₌0.000) state of mind (p=0.002) and over-speeding (p= 0.004) are three causes of RTC that are statistically significant. Further testing using Chi-Square shows that location and over- speeding have significant effect on RTC in Lagos, for example, linear-by-linear significant value is (P=0.006). State of mind and gender were also significant (p=0.006) for pearson Chi-Square test. Furthermore, state of mind and highest educational qualification were also significantly correlated at (p=0.000) for likelihood ratio. The traffic management agencies revealed that traffic control is in a very good (45.9) state on a five (5) point Likert scale. The respondents show that the inter-agency cooperation in managing traffic in Lagos state is high. Therefore the study concludes that speeding, state of mind and road should be well supervised to ensure that RTC are brought to minimal situation.