A Statistical Analysis of Vehicle Accident Cases in the Western Region, Ghana

Abstract

Motor-vehicle accident is an unexpected event which produces unintended injury, death or property damage involving one or more vehicles on the road. The focus of this study was to examine the rate of reported Motor- Vehicle  accidents in the Western Region of Ghana and also to determine the type of vehicles that are involved in such accidents as well as the periods in which these accidents occur. The analysis of data was carried out by the use of percentages, chi-square and analysis of variance. The data is a monthly returns submitted by the Western Region Branch of Driver and Vehicle Licensing Department (DVLA) in collaboration with National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) and the Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU).On the question of serious and fatal accidents, fatal accidents increased over the period of study whiles that of serious accidents decreased. It was also observed that private vehicles contributed to most of the accidents followed by commercial vehicles whiles tractor and earth moving machines, bicycles and carts contributed less to the number of recorded accidents.However the period of occurrence of accidents over the years was mostly recorded in the first and fourth quarters, which falls within the festive seasons in Ghana i.e. Easter and Christmas seasons. Further analysis also revealed that the type of vehicles involved in accidents and the year of occurrences are not dependent. Finally though the accident rate was decreasing over the period of study the mean accident rate over the years under study are not different.

Key words: Motor Traffic and Transport Unit, National Road Safety Commission, Vehicle Licensing Department