The Present Traffic Condition and the Future Direction in the city of Abuja. AKINMADE. O.D1. 1. Research Officer Institute Abuja Nigeria Building and Road Research
ABSTRACT: Abuja region in Nigeria has started facing serious traffic congestion especially during peak hours in the central business district ,virtual all activities is been done in the Central Business District Area and due to lack of adequate transportation facilities and intermodal transportation ,personal vehicles is on the increase. This is an indication of transport problems, most motorist spend at least 2 hours to enter the CBD and at least another 2hrs to leave the CBD on a journey of 15mins .This monograph is part of the ongoing research project to analyze the traffic situation in Abuja metropolis and it introduces the traffic situation in Abuja metropolis and analyzes the cause and possible remedies .The causes of traffic congestion are classified into three component. Driver and commuter Behavioral problems, problems in the transport system and problem in social system. The countermeasures are classified into three categories. The improvement traffic regulation, improvement of infrastructure and control and users education. It was found that in the long run government has to construct more transport infrastructures, diversify the transport sector by constructing alternatives means of mobility to road but on the other hand there exists methodology or ideas to improve traffic situation in the short term.
Key words: Abuja Nigeria, traffic congestion, drivers behavior, transport infrastructure
1.2 Traffic Situation in Abuja capital Territory. According to the statistics provided by the federal road safety corps , the situation of traffic accident in Abuja region is The number of accidents is now decreasing gradually.
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Source:FRSC ROAD TRAFFIC CRASH REPORTS In Abuja City, traffic congestion is a chronic and serious problem as shown in Figure 2. Traffic congestion irritates drivers at a lot of road sections not only in peak hours but also in other periods of time. The most irritative thing is that they cannot forecast their travel time once they start driving. It may take two or more hours to travel between sections where you can pass through in 15 minutes if there is no congestion. However there has not been a study to estimate the huge loss to the Nigerian economy as a result of this menace. According to Trofimenkos (2006), the annual loss of time was estimated to be 87.5hours per person and the total monetary annual loss was estimated to be 31.6 billion rubles(approx. 1 billion dollars) in Moscow city.
Figure 2 Traffic Congestion along arterial entering the City(Nyanyan-Mararaba road) To improve those situations, it is obvious that more road infrastructure should be constructed in a long run. However, considering the urgency of this problem, it is also necessary to apply Countermeasures that is possible to realize in two or three years. This paper diagnoses the Causes of the transport problem and considers realizable countermeasures. Since most of the Causes of traffic accidents are basically included in that of traffic congestion, now the causes of the traffic congestion are going to be discussed here.
Figure 3 Left-turning Vehicles surging into an Intersection Most of the Nigerian Drivers in Nigeria are not good at considering the effect of their own behavior on others and tend to think go further if there is a space! 4.1.2 Cutting into Line In general drivers in Nigeria tend to cut into line; however some dont even have stop markings on the pavement as shown below. and they often wait in through lanes so as to cut into left or right turn lanes from there. In Nigeria, phases for left-or-right-turning vehicles are often separated from the phase for through traffic, they may block the through lanes for a long time even when the number of lane is not sufficient. Moreover, in the case of traffic congestion in through traffic, a lot of vehicles going through often wait in the left or right turn lanes to cut into the through lanes and cause unnecessary congestion.
Fig 4.0 Cutting into Line and no stop markings 4.1.3 Running into Narrow Streets or going against traffic. When Drivers experience traffic congestion in an approach, it is typical for drivers to run into narrow streets to search other routes and this behavior may cause another traffic congestion in the narrow street.. As a matter of fact, it may take more time for those drivers to pass through the narrow streets than to go straight along the wide congested route . Also due to congestion some drivers during early hours of the day and late evenings tend to drive against traffic due to the fact that road traffic enforcement is virtually not 24hrs 4.1.4 Parking and selling on Besides the Roads In Abuja and its environs drivers do not care about on-street parking because there are less parking places than needed and the control of illegal parking is not tight at all, lots of drivers tend to double park, to park near the bus stops, intersections or where is prone to be a bottleneck ,some parking bays have been turned into permanent parking lots for public buses and taxis(Figure 5).The vehicles searching parking place in slow speed are also problematic. While some of the parking bays have been turned into a market zones .
Figure 5 On-street Parking and Double Parking 4.2 Problems in the Transport System Here, I would like to introduce problems in the transport system. 4.2.1 Inadequate Infrastructure and infrastructural decay It should be pointed out first that the rate of road area is still small and not sufficient for present huge traffic demand. Moreover, compared with the number of vehicles on the roads, the amount of parking place is desperately small. The shortage of road infrastructure may naturally cause traffic congestion, and the deficiency of parking places may increase drivers on-street parking.Bad roads are common features since there are no alternatives to road transport,no maintenance adequate and prompt and no proper design and construction.FERMA activities have been virtually not been felt in the area of maintain the roads which they have mandate ,however they have been vocal but the effect is not been felt. 4.2.2. Provision of mass transit. The provision of mass transit should be holistic and realistic even with the subsidy removed from petroleum and the promise by government to provide mass transit has not really helped the situation ,because people saddled to manage this mass transit end up turning it to their personal property, treat the public with disdane,ply any route they like and they dont even have proper timing to know when and where to ply.
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Figure 7 Yellow Boxes in London 4.3.3 To Establish a Traffic Grid lock Reduction Team It may be effective to establish a Traffic Grid lock Reduction Team that consists of the federal road safety.civil defence,VIO and other private organizations with a mission to reduce traffic congestion. The main job is to control on-street parking at vulnerable sections, to restrain drivers from surging into intersections or cutting into line. To avoid bribery, it is better to employ them at a high salary. 4.3.4 To Provide Information to Drivers It is important to provide information about traffic situations to drivers by possible means as well as ITS technologies. Especially information about unexpected event, such as accidents and roadblocks, is necessary for drivers to think about the alternative routes. 4.3.5 To Speed Up the Registration Process of Traffic Accidents It is inevitable to consider how to speed up the registration process of traffic accidents. Minor accidents should be immediately registered to release the accident cars especially if an accident occurs at points where huge traffic congestion is expected, such as at the center of roads or inside intersections. For example, it might be possible that a police officer near the accident point should first hurry to the point and take photographs then continue the remaining procedures at different place. 4.3.6 To Practice a Campaign of Smart Drive and attitudinal change of drivers Even if a lot of above-mentioned countermeasures are put into execution, sufficient effects cannot be seen without users understanding and changing their own behavior. To practice a
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Fig 8 A traffic police controlling traffic ,having motorist violating traffic laws.
5.0 CONCLUSION.
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6.0 REFERENCES
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Akinmade Oluwatosin Daniel is a resourceful and result-oriented individual who aims at utilizing his potentials optimally to achieve desired organizational aims, objective and goals in a highly competitive, challenging and in high- pressure work environment, born on the 8 August, 1983, single. A citizen of Nigerian from Ondo state.Had his bachelors in civil engineering in 2008 from Federal University of Technology, Minna, Niger State.He proceeded to the prestigious Universiti Teknologi Malaysia in 2011 where he had his masters degree in highway and transportation.My interest is road safety Engineering, pavement materials analysis, traffic engineering. Currently a research officer in the Nigerian Building and Road Research institute Abuja .I love Reading ,Travelling and meeting new friends.
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