Road Safety Audit of a Typical Multilane Rural Principal Arterial in Nigeria
Authors: Adeleke OO, Jimoh SB, Akinola O, Sijuwola OO
DOI Info: N/A
ABSTRACT
In Nigeria where this study was carried out, 5,440 persons died while 30,478 persons sustained various degrees of injuries in 9,734 road traffic accidents across highways in 2015. This necessitates taking proactive measures to reduce accidents and the resulting casualties. Road safety audit (RSA) has been found among other measures to be an effective tool for proactively improving the future safety performance of a roadway during the planning and design stages and for identifying safety issues in existing transportation facilities. A road safety audit was carried out on an existing divided multilane rural principal arterial, Ilorin – Ogbomosho, which is a typical expressway in Nigeria. Visual inspection was carried out and measurements were taken. The study showed that the lane width is adequate, however, the access to and egress from the highway is not adequately controlled. The observed average speed of moving vehicles is 99.85 km/hr which is okay for the design speed of 100 km/hr and posted speed of 100 km/hr. The width of the clear zone of the highway on most stretches of the road is less than the minimum required 9 m. Other features noticed that need to be remedied include: improper garage location, potholes, improper median opening, abandonment of accident vehicles on the road, double parking on the roadway among others. It is suggested that Nigerian guidelines and toolkits on RSA be developed and published.
Affiliations: Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering & Technology, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria
Keywords: Road Safety Audit, Accidents, Proactive Measures, Rural Arterial, Visual Inspection
Published date: 2018/12/30
