SPATIOTEMPORAL ANALYSIS OF ROAD TRAFFIC CRASHES IN METROPOLITAN AREAS OF LAGOS
Ajala Abdul-Rahman Taiwo, Volume 7 Issue 1, 2025 Pages 17-29, Published: 2025-10-27
Abstract
This study examined spatiotemporal analysis of road traffic crashes with the objective of examining their causes and distribution pattern in metropolitan areas of Lagos state. Secondary data were collected from Federal Road Safety Corps, Lagos State Command for ten years (2013 – 2022). The data were updated by generating coordinates of the crash location, and these were cleaned and screened before use. Thereafter, descriptive analysis using MS Excel pivot table and spatial distribution pattern was carried out. Nearest Neighbor Analysis (NNA) and map visualization was generated using Kernel Density Estimation. Results revealed that speeding contributed 30-50% of crashes, brake failure 12-20%, and dangerous driving 11-18%. The NNA revealed that road crash clusters existed for all the years with 340m as the highest observed mean distance. Ikeja Local Government Area is the black spot zone with a cluster of an average of 200 crashes. The study concluded that the achievement of safer speed is a very crucial measure to ameliorate the increasing crashes, and recommends speed advocacy and control, the use of posted speed limit on all roads as well as installation of speed-monitoring cameras to be backed up with a system of enforcement and correction of erring drivers. Also, road safety workshops focusing measures and interventions to curb over-speeding were recommended to be organized across Lagos Meropolis.