An assessment of transport data availability in Rwanda

Abstract

The availability and quality of transport sector data is important for decision making. It is required for many purposes related to transport policy and planning, as well as to transport engineering and management. The lack of data and data quality can impede analytical work, preparation and execution of transport projects. The aim of this research is to assess the availability of transport data in Rwanda, focusing on traffic engineering data and parameters, transport environment data and road traffic accident data. In this research, attention has been given to the identification of the sources of the data; the determination of their key characteristics as well as a limited assessment of its quality in terms of completeness and plausibility. The assessment of transport data availability and quality in Rwanda has been performed by reviewing Government documents, databases, consultants ‘reports, and academic research documents, the Rwandan documents available from the internet as well as by meeting Authorities or Professionals from different institutions. The literature review was the base for the determination of transport data types, its sources and the definitions of the quality dimensions. The main sources of transport data include Ministries and agencies, local government authorities, insurance companies, Rwanda National Police, hospitals and academic institutions. The findings of this research indicated that the availability and quality of transport data in Rwanda is variable and in many cases poor. Some of the data are available, others don’t exist and at district level very little data was found. In addition, it was found that getting access to some of the existing databases is difficulty especially for academic researchers. It is believed that this research will form a useful first point of reference for researchers and practitioners who need transport data in Rwanda. Lastly, recommendations are made for development of transport data collection in Rwanda. (Key words: Rwanda, transport, data, traffic engineering, environment, traffic accidents)