Spatial variation of vehicular road accident in Kigali City

Abstract

The road accident fatalities attract the attention in all countries of the planet. In 2013 the deaths from traffic accident were estimated to about 1.2 million people per year. The analysis of accident data is of importance for policy makers in help to reduce fatalities associated with those accidents. In additional road accident data are needed by statisticians to understand the trends, scale and nature of accidents, by safety engineers to investigate site and no site factors where safety interventions may be effective. This study was for assessing the spatial variation of road accident data in Kigali City and identifying the main causes of road accidents. The mobility of the population, development and expansion of Kigali City need to meet with a sustainable, safe and healthy environment. Kigali City was reported as the zones at high risk of accidents in Rwanda. In order to achieve reduction in road traffic accidents and in applying interventions measures, the analysis of the variability in recorded data related to road accident is important. The research aimed to establish the spatial variation of road accident data across the Kigali City with view of the causes and making recommendations for safety measures. It focused on establish the trend and characteristics of road traffic crashes, analyse the spatial distribution of road accident data in Kigali City and determine the main cause and types of vehicles involved in accidents. The analysis of variation of road accident needs a collection of data in different years and locations. Data used in this study were road traffic accident data collected from Rwanda National Police from 2012 to June 2014 in Kigali City (they started to record accident with details). They are presented for each year and for every month. The collected data were then collated, analysed and presented in form of maps to show the spatial distribution of Road Traffic Accidents cases by Districts. The accidents frequency and accident rate per km per year were used to ranks Districts with high risk of accidents. Gasabo District was found to have high number of accidents than other Districts of the Kigali City. The consideration of the length of road network has effect on the ranking of Districts in experiencing accidents. They were observed using the accident rate per km per year. There was a considerable decrease of the number of road traffic accidents from November to December in all Districts. This may be due to the enforcement of regulations during the period of Christmas and New Year days.

The negligence was the main cause of accidents, followed by bad maneuver. Pickup, lorry, minibus-bus, four wheel vehicle, cars, motorcycle, moped bicycle, pedestrian, wheel borrows are the types of vehicles or road users involved in accidents in Kigali City. The cars were found to be the types of vehicles mostly involved in road accidents and pedestrians were the most vulnerable road users in road crashes. It was established that Rwanda does not have a good data record. Their data do not precise the location of accident and all injuries involved in the same accident. Therefore it is recommended that proper systematic means should be established for recording road accident data. Accident rate considering the daily traffic in each District may be investigated to increase the precision in the ranking of Districts according to their exposure.