Cost Evaluation of Road Traffic Accident in Nigeria Using Human Capital Approach
CHAPTER ONE
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
This study tends to evaluate the cost implication of road traffic accident in Nigeria using human capital approach. Other specific objectives include;
- To identify the major and minor causes of road accident.
- To examine the socio-economic consequences of road traffic accident in Nigeria.
- Portray the strategies at minimizing road traffic accidents.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
INTRODUCTION
Our focus in this chapter is to critically examine relevant literatures that would assist in explaining the research problem and furthermore recognize the efforts of scholars who had previously contributed immensely to similar research. The chapter intends to deepen the understanding of the study and close the perceived gaps.
Precisely, the chapter will be considered in three sub-headings:
- Conceptual Framework
- Empirical Review
- Chapter Summary
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
Evolution Of Transportation
Transportation, which is the movement of people, goods and information from one location to another, is said to be as old as man. Human beings have been known to have the desire to move from one place to another on the earth’s surface carrying with them, food, property and culture depending on the technology available to them and what they can afford at the particular point in time. For many centuries of human existence, mankind has technologically developed various forms and modes of transportation.
At the most basic level, human beings move and thus interact with each other by walking, but transportation geography ypically studies more complex and regional or global systems of transportation. Human beings do not walk at birth but by the age of one year most people start walking and this stage of human growth and development is still celebrated in many cultures and societies today. From this stage, human beings increase in their walking ability and also increase in the distances covered and goods carried until they are old and eventually die.
Transportation started with the primitive means of movement on foot or walking to the stage of making use of animals and then to the stage of using mechanical means of transporting goods and people from one geographical location to another. In fact, the historical evolution of transportation is related to the spatial evolution of economic systems worldwide. Using technological and economic developments all over the world, Rodrigue, Comtois & Slack (2006) summarized the historical evolution of transportation from the pre-industrial era to the early 21st century into five major stages, each linked with specific technological innovation in the transport sector.
Pre-industrial Era (pre – 1800)
No form of motorized transport existed. Transport technology was limited to walking and the use of animal labour for land transport and to wind for maritime transport. Speed was slow and small quantities of goods were carried. Waterways were the most efficient transport systems and so the first civilizations emerged along the river systems for agricultural and trading purposes (Tigris-Euphrates, Nile, Indus, Ganges, and Hwang-Ho). The most extensive trade route by land used the Silk Road, opened around 138 BC, which was connected to the Arab sea routes in the ancient world and was used for many centuries. There is a recent ongoing attempt by China to resuscitate this route, the Silk Road, in order to connect China to Europe by land.
Transportation during the Industrial Revolution (1800 – 1870)
During this period, major improvements in transportation featured the development of the canal systems in Europe and later railways were developed when steam engines (which converted thermal energy into mechanical energy) were adapted to locomotives. Railway transportation revolutionized and transformed inland transportation in the second half of the 19th century. Starting with national railway systems, transcontinental railways were constructed from New York to San Francisco in U.S.A. in 1869, the Trans-Canadian railway in 1886 and the trans-Siberian railway in Russia in 1904. In addition, regular maritime routes linking harbours worldwide started over the North Atlantic between Europe and North America as shipbuilding technology improved. The major consequence of the Industrial Revolution was the establishment of large distribution networks of raw materials and energy as well as the specialization of transportation services.
Emergence of Modern Transportation Systems (1870 – 1920)
International transportation took a new growth phase with improvements in engine propulsion and a gradual shift from coal to oil in the 1870’s which increased the speed and capacity of maritime transportation. Global maritime circulation was also dramatically improved when infrastructures to reduce intercontinental distances, such as the Suez Canal in 1869 and the Panama Canal in 1914 were constructed. With the Suez Canal, the far reaches of Asia and Australia became more accessible while the Panama Canal linking the American East and West coasts shortened maritime journeys by more than 13,000 kilometres and reduced the distances from various locations globally. Because of these developments, ships also dramatically increased in size and port infrastructure had to expand in order to accommodate them. From the 1880’s, regular intercontinental liner passenger transport services linked major ports of the world until the 1950’s when air transportation took over.
During this period, railway networks expanded and became the dominant mode for land transport for both passengers and goods. Significant growth of urban population led to the use of tramways (streetcars) in Western Europe and United States of America; and in some large metropolitan agglomerations, underground metro systems were constructed, for example, the construction of the London underground railway which started in 1863. Other significant developments include the fact that by 1895, every continent was linked by telegraphic lines, as a small beginning of the global information network that would emerge in the late 20th century.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Area of Study
Nigeria experiences the highest rate of road traffic accidents resulting in fatalities and various levels of injuries. On Abuja-Lokoja road, traffic accident takes the lion’s share of the risk having highest number of vehicular accidents. Thus it is the area of the study.
Research Design
Research designs are perceived to be an overall strategy adopted by the researcher whereby different components of the study are integrated in a logical manner to effectively address a research problem. In this study, the researcher employed the descriptive survey research design. This is due to the nature of the study whereby the opinion and views of people are sampled.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
DATA PRESENTATION
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS:
Introduction
This chapter summarizes the findings into the “cost evaluation of road traffic accident in Nigeria using human capital approach”. The chapter consists of summary of the study, conclusions, and recommendations.
Summary of the Study
In this study, our focus was to examine cost evaluation of road traffic accident in Nigeria using human capital approach using Abuja-Lokoja road as case study. The study specifically was aimed at identifying the major and minor causes of road accident; to examine the socio-economic consequences of road traffic accident in Nigeria; Portray the strategies at minimizing road traffic accidents.
The study adopted the Human Capital Approach for data analysis since it was an 11 years study of human life and property cost of road traffic accident.
The study reveals that accidents which occurs in Abuja-Lokoja road, is either, severe, fatal, serious or slight. It was further disclosed that there are many factors responsible for the occurrence of such accidents which is categorized in to human factors, social factors and infrastructural factors. The accidents which occurred has a socioeconomic effect on the individuals involved and the rate of accident from 2000-2010 has not reduced.
Conclusions
The accident cost was decomposed and quantified based on the accident severity levels. The cost per fatal accident is N 24, 853, 524, the cost per of serious injuries accident is N633.520, and the cost of per minor accident is N 10, 575. 36, the total human cost is N 55, 714, 330,477, the total properties cost is N 890, 067, 000, the police administrative cost isN65, 446, 757. 76 and the total accident cost is N 56,669,844,234.Therefore the cost per vehicle per kilometer is N60,804.03Km-1, the cost per kilometer is N318,369,911 Km-1for Abuja-Lokoja road.
Recommendations
- The driver of a vehicle is the most important single factor in road traffic crash. The production of high quality drivers is consequently non-negotiable. The two basic requirements in producing high quality motor vehicle drivers is proper training and licensing programmes.
- Just like vehicles, the condition of the road infrastructure is also very important when thinking of improving road safety records in Nigeria. The state of the federal roads in Nigeria, to say the least, is deplorable.So the government should consider it as a priority to maintain and fix roads.
- There is need for enforcement whichis the bane of road safety in Nigeria because when enforcement of traffic regulations is lax, violation of these regulations becomes a common practice and this could lead to complete disregard for the regulation in the long run. Hence, for traffic laws to be effective there must be enforcement.
REFERENCES
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