Influence of Land use and Traffic on Road Safety Along Jimeta Bypass

Abstract

Many roads in some urban areas in developing countries, such as Nigeria, are characterized by a high level of traffic and, because of limited resources, receive inadequate forms of protection and inappropriate maintenance strategies. Some of the roads have become part of a landfill dump embankment, which cause defects that contribute to road accidents. The study sought to investigate the effect of land use and traffic on road safety along the Jimeta Bypass Road. Vehicle enumeration was carried out by manual counting. Road traffic accident data for the analysis was obtained from the Federal Road Safety Commission in Yola. Physical inspection of the pavement section revealed that it was in an unsuitable condition for riding and safety. The findings also revealed that the road pavement had an annual average daily traffic volume of about 1470 vehicles per day, with tricycles having the highest traffic volume and luxurious buses having the lowest traffic volume. Analysis of variance showed that there was no significant variation in traffic volume between periods (morning, afternoon, and evening); traffic only differs between vehicle types. Accident data collected was found to highly correlate with traffic volume, an indicator that the high traffic volume along the Jimeta Bypass Road could be responsible for the occurrence of road traffic crashes along the road. The study findings also indicate there is need to adopt the maintenance culture by Road Authorities and relevant stakeholders so as to address the failure condition at the onset.