Lassarre, Senior Researcher, Institut National de Recherche sur les Transports et leur Securite, France

1. INTRODUCTION 1.1. Geography

The Republic of Nigerislocated between 12° and 22°North andbetween0° and 16°EastSurface area is 1.2 million square kilometreS and climate is typical of Sahel countries.

Inaddition to suffering from difficult climatic conditions, Nigerisenclosed by land, which hinders economic development and trnffic. Accessto the sea can be gained only through theharboursof Cotonou or Lome which are more than

1000

km

away. Lack of tnlfiS!XJn infrastructureS other !han roads makes such constrainlS even stronger.

Nigerisa relatively flat country, with aItiwdes between 200and500 metreS, and only a few mountain ranges and plateaus in the centre (AIr, Djado, andTibesti). Hydrography is dominated by River Niger, which watelS thesouthern part ofthe country over 500 Ian, and by River Komadougou, along the border with Nigeria Other rivers are llSually seasonal.

I.2 Demography

In 1988,

total

population of Niger was estimated to be 7.25 million inhabitants. Population density is 5 inhabitants per square kilometre, but geographical dislribution is very uneven, with the highest concentration around Niamey.

Only 16% of inhabitants live in urban areas, and N"lllI11ey itself accounts for 45% of the urban population. The rural population (over 83% of tolll!) includes 15% of nomads. 74% ofthe population are under 30.

1..3 Road netwurk

The road network in Niger includes 10,160kIn of roads, out of which 3,743

are

unclassified.Thestruewre of the network is as follows:

- Surfaced roads:

- modem din roads:

• otherdin roads:

The network is generally built to adequate standards, with carriageways 7 metres wide for surfaced roads.

The main roads include:

- an east-west axis, National Road nOI (RNI) which links Mali to lake Tchad overa dismnce of 1,850km;

- a north-south axis linking Arlit to the border of Nigeria via Agadez and Zinder, and fonning an 800 kIn long section of the trnns-Sahara route;

- a lItird highway joining the twO timones through Tsemaow, Tahoua, Agadez (525 kIn).

. some feeder roads radiating from RNI and giving access to neighbouring countries (Nigeria Benin, ere.).

1.4 Accidentsand need for tratrlC safety action

Overthe last few years, changes in traffic conditions in Niger have generated asharp increase ofthe number of accidents andtheir severity, to the point thattheaccident siwation started to be felt as a heavy burden for the country. To give an example, the Highway Police ("Gendarmerie") recorded 850 accidents on

rural

^roads in 1988 against 689 in 1980. Tolll!

number of injury accidents in 1988 was over

2000.

including 271 falll! ones.

In view ofthe problem, the Ministry of Transpon and Tourism andthe National Committee for Road Safety launched in early 1989 a comprehensive Road Safety Swdy, with theaimof planning actioninthe medium term (five years). The study is financed by the World Bank and cnrried out willl a French consultant, BCEOM. with technical assistance of INRETS

(the French National Instiwte for Transportand Safety Research). Fmal resultsare due at the end of the year. but due to

the shon time available, funher detailed studies will still be needed before implementation of the fust steps of the action programme

can

begin.

1.5 The comprehen.sive Road Safety Study

When the study started in the spring of 1989, there was a need for a thorough diagnosis of the safety siwation in Niger:

sources of occident data were scattered and global acdOom statistics were missing; probable causes of accidents were unknown. Most of the efforts were therefore concentrated on producing a soWld basis of knowledge for future action. To this PlU]JOse, the following investigations were C31Tied oue

- a statistical analysis of accidents, including building up an accident me from the data available from different sources (police, gendarmerie, hospitals, courts).

• a detailed analysis of a representative sample of accident repons, both in Niamey and onllll'll1

roads,

in view of identifying major accident factors likely to be influenced by preventive action;

- psycho-sociological surveys aimed at improving knowledge of some human factors identified as potential accident generators, and at preparing safety measures such

as

information

campaigns

or driver lIaining programmes;

- an inventory of a sample of roads, also aimed at creeking some accident factors and improvingour understanding of accident causation pattern;

• an economic study of the cost of accidents.

On thebasisofthis comprehensive diagnosis, the

first

lines of an integrated action programmearebeing drawn, including targets in tenns of particular categories of accidents to eliminate, priority areas of intervention,and integrated slrategies including intersectoral coondination. lnstillltional requirements are also being e:<amined.

In what follows, the

paper

concenlrates on the statistical analysis of occidents, which provides an overview of the safety problem, themain targets for action,andbasisfor economic studies. Apicture of the existing organisation for traffic safety worle is also briefly sketched.

2. TIlE ACCIDENT SITUATION IN NIGER

One of the objectives of the comprehensive Safety Study carried

was

toesUlblish thetolal numbersof injury accidents and of victims, on the basis of existing dala sources and statistical files, and of complementary data collections. The occident silllation

was

described for the year 1988 and its evolution was smdied over the last 15 years. The methodusedis described here.

2.1 Accident data collection

The gendarmerie (highway police)andthe urban police

are

responsible for investigating and reportingaU injury accidents and collisions wilh heavy materia1 damage. The police wodes in

8

major urban areas (including Niamey) which

are

the regional capitals and in27 others which

are

district head-towns. The gendarmerie covers all rural

roads, as

well

as

the smaller urban areas, andalso deals wilh urban accidents involving a vehicle or a person belonging to the Armed Forces of Niger (FAN).

Accident reports

are

very comprehensive. written in French and include a sketch of the accident location

as

well

as

wimesses' accounts.

It seems that the gendarmerie or police

are

systematically called when an accident

occurs.

Current prnctice of gendarmes isto go first to thehospital or medical centre where the victims havebeen lrarlSferred, then to proceed to the accident site.

In addition to writing full reports, gendarmes send a radio-message of one to two pages to different ministries or administrative bodies, briefly summarizing lhe accident circumstances and consequences.

[t

can

be considered thattheaccidentdatacollection is complete over the llll'll1roadnetwork.

as

well

as

in Niamey andthe seven other regional capitals.

2.2 Data collection on accident casualties

The gendarmerie and police establish an annual count of victims, with a distinction between falalities, serious injuries and

light injuries. However, there are no precise rules todefine these categories.Itseems that famlities are counted if death has occurred on the spot, while classification between serious and light injuries is based on the judgement of the physician.

The main hospilals keep a record of admissions, which provides the number of persons hospitalized after an accident, as well as a classification according to severity of injuries, time spent in hospital, ordeath on arrival or during an operation.

The Ministry of Interior intends to produce statistics of morol1ity, based on deathcenificates. The data lreaUnent system isbeingsetup. Traffic accidents are one ofthecausesofdeath mentioned and the importance of getting accurate information should be stressed.

2.3 Slatistical data treabnents

1)The gendarmerie centralizes accident reports at their headquarters in Niamey in order to produce statistics. A series of statistical bulletins established for the year 1978, 79, 81, 85, 86 and 88

are

available.

They include:

_ a distnbution of accidents in three categories of severity (faml, injury-producing, damage·{mly), and one of victimsalso in three categories (famlities, serious injuries, light injuries);

- a distnbution of accidents according to:

• categay of road

• gendarmerie group (7 regions)

• gendarmerie brigade (the

20

brigades with highest accident numbers)

*

time

• human or material causes

• monlh (with also number of fatalities and injuries)

- the list of the 20 most serious accidents in lhe year, in terms of number of famlities and injuries, with indication of brigade, date, road category, and

causes.

Results

are

difficult to interpret

as

the accidents included in the statistics

are

very heterogeneous: injury and damage accidents

on

ruraI roads, injury and damage accidents involving a vehicle or a person from FAN in urban

areas.

2)The police do not treat information

as

systematically and do oot produce statisticsatthe national level. Some attempts have howeverbeen made at lhe local level. for instance in Niamey in 1988. Special investigations have been carried out in the seven other regional capilals in order to get a total number of accidents in 1988, classified in four categories (damage-only, light, serious, and faml).

3)In!lie hospilals, datatreatmenthasbeenperformed for exampleinNl3lIley, using there<:ordof admissions over 8 years, from 1974 to 1981 (TRASU, 1982); dataartaiysis separated light injuries without hospitalization, serious injuries with at least one day in hospital. and deaths on arrival or later on, resulting from the injuries sustained.

Following this exa1l1ple, additional data treabnent has been requested andcarried out for 1988 in Niamey hospital and in the seven other regional hospitals, in order toobtain a count of victims admitted in theemergeocy ward following a road

acciden~ victims areclassified

as

light injuries, medium injuries, serious injuries, dead on arrival or during operation; the number of victims hospitalizedis alsoprovided. Information is missing only from the missionary hospital in Kalmi in the Soulh part of theCO\lllrry.

4)The Court for driving license withdrawal, under!lie Dim:tion ofLandTransport(DTI), producesannual statistics from thecases tried. The sampleisstruewrerl in relation tothe way the Court worics. The drivers called toappearhave atleast aB

license

(two-wheelers with an A license

are

mrely called),andapersonal address; some drivers do present themselves to the Court without being called (the provisional receipt for the driving license is valid for only three months).

The drivers without

a

license

are

excludedfrom the sample,

as

their

case

isdirectly examined by Justice, and

cases

of drivers killed in

an

accident

are

archived. Mostdrivers appear in Court in order to get !lIeir license back. But drivers living abroad do not Accidents in Niamey

are

tried more rnpidly due to proximity of the Court.

A fileisarchived after three

or

four monlhs. Statiostics take into accOlllltall files tried in Coonduring theyear (about 10

a

week).

The resulting sample of accidents includes both damage and injury collisions, reportedby gendanmerie or police. Apart from the biases already mentionned, it can be considered

as

random, and covering a whole year with a delay of three to four months.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 1 12 TOTAL

TABLE 1: DISTRIBUTION OF ACCIDE!I<T CASES ACCORDING TO MONTH OF ACCIDENT (COLL"MN) AND MO!l<TH OF TRIAL (LINE)

Slalistical bulletins are available for 1981 to 1985 and for 1987 and show the distnbutions of accidents, fatalities, and injuries according to:

• region

• month

• time of the day (I.QO..7.00, 7.QO..13.00, 13.QO..19.00, 19.QO..I.OO)and type ofroad (urban, sufacedroad, modem dinroad, other dinroad)

• type of vehicle (motOlcycle,

car,

van, lorry, tractor, bus)

• Type ofroad and typeof vehicle

• age range of drive~ (18-20, 20-25, 25-30, 30-40,40-50, 50.60, 60-70)

• date of licensing (1 year before, 2 years..., over 10y~) and COlUlay licensing (Niger or foreign counay)

• nationality of drive~(Niger citizens, others)

• hwnan

causes

(6 categories) and physical

causes

(6 categories) 2.4 The accident situation in Niger in 1988: an estimate

2.4.1 Accidents

10 1988, gendarmerie recorded 850 accidents, including 204 fatal ones. 510 accidents producing non-fatal injuries and 136 damage-only collisions; the figures show asharp increase (30 to40%) in reference to 1987 (Source: gendarmerie slatlstics for 1988).

For the same period, the police =rded 14% accidents in N'l3/lley, including 171 damage-on1y collisions, 45 fatal accidents, 242 serious onesand1038 light ones,figuresalso showing anincreaseofabout30% with referenceto 1987 (1091 accidents including 43 fatal ones). 10 addition, 40 damage-on1y collisions, 211 light accidents, 95 serious and 22 fatal ones

were

countedin the seven major cities.

GendanTl!rie Niamey Other major

TABLE 2: THE ACCIDENT SITUATION IN 1988 IN NIGER

The loral number of casualty accidenlS in Niger was thus 2367 in \988, including 27\ fatal accidenlS. The cily of Ninmey accounlS by ilSelffor more than half the accidenlS (56%).

After a logarithmic aansformation, a linear relationship appears between the number of casualty accidenlS and the population (1977 census) in the sample of the seven major cities (Fig.I).

C.lsua I ty

FIGURE 1 Number0(C2SUalty accidentsIn relation 10 population InIhe seven majorcilles of Niger.

Theurbanaccident situation asreponedby thepolice coversonly theeight main urbanareasin Niger thattotalled4\0,\63 inhabitantsin 1977, or 62% of the total urban population (656,203).

2.4.2 Casualties

On theroadnetwork under the responsibility of gendarmerie. the 7\4 casualty accidentsrecordedgenerated 245 faralities, 753 serious injuries and \297 light injuries.

In Niamey, accident victims were counted from a sample of \064 casualty accidents recordedby the police; they totalled 33 fatalities, 255 serious injuries and 970 light injuries ( for 33 fatal accidents, 232 serious ones and 799 light ones).

Casualties

Type of ace. Fata 1ities Serious injuries Light

Injuries Accidents

Fatal

TABLE 3: MORTAUTY AND MORBIDITY ACCORDING TO TYPE OF ACCIDEi"'T IN NIAt'lEY.

The number ofvictimsin urbanareas in Niger is estimated byapplying the mortality and morbidity rates calculated from the

Niamey

sampleto theactual numbersof accidents in each city; thefmal estimatesare 45 fatalities, 266

serious

injuries and 1254 light injuries in Niamey, and 22 fatalities, 104 serious injuries and 258 light injuries in the other urban areas.

Casua Itfes GenGanr2rie Hl...y Othe... jor

Clt1es

TOTAL

-TABLE 4: TRAFFIC ACCIDENT CASUALTIES IN NIGER IN 1988

Dans le document Compendium of papers : Second African Road Safety Congress, Addis Ababa, 16-20 October 1989 (Page 117-121)