Blackspot Identification and the Possible Countermeasures: Case Study in Addis Ababa to Ambo Road

Abstract

Over 1.2million peoples die each year on the world roads, and between 20 and 50 million suffer non-fatal injuries. In most regions of the world this epidemics of road traffic injuries is still increasing [17]. The main objective of this thesis work is to identify the most hazardous location and provide possible countermeasures that will minimize the traffic accident at the identified locations. The scope of the study was limited to Ambo Ginchi Addis Ababa road, which starts from Addis Ababa which is 24 kilometers near to Menagesha and points up to Awaro at the entrance to Ambo town which is 111km from Addis Ababa with a total length of 87km. In order to conduct the research, the data that were collected are accident records from September 2012-2015 by each Wereda police stations. Then these data are analyzed using Priority value for Ejere Wereda and Holota town and accident frequency for Ambo wereda,Dendi wereda and Welmera wereda to rank blackspot locations. Based on the analysis made, 13 locations of the stretch were found to be blackspots. Out of these blackspots, 3 of them are in Ambo Wereda, 2 in Ejere wereda, 1 in Welmera wereda and 7 in Holota town. The duration of time when most of the accidents occurred is from 12:00am-3pm in the afternoon and the major causes of the accidents were over speeding, driving without attention and some unidentified causes. This study also shows that the drivers’ age group who caused most of the accidents is from 25-34, the younger age group. From the study it is concluded that, there is an increase in the number of accidents in the afternoon, during day time and the number of accident is decreasing or minimal during night time. Young drivers are believed to cause more accidents than the older once. The major causes for the occurrence of accidents were over speeding and driving without attention. From the findings of the research the following recommendations are provided: increment of lane width of the road, provision of climbing lane, installation of road side delineator, provision of road side improvements, installation of traffic signs and repainting pavement markings should be done by ERA. Concerned traffic bodies should also seriously consider the time of the day between 12:00am-3pm in the afternoon as most of the accidents happen during this time. Similar traffic accident recording database should also be prepared region wide. Finally the research implies that there is a need for clear and Standardized Blackspot identification methodologies to decrease the fatality rate due to traffic accidents at the federal level.