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ABSTRACT

This work is concerned with road traffic offence information management in Nigeria. It focused on trends in road traffic offences information and carried out a critical review of current information and communication and technology compliance state of FRSC with a view to identifying its defects in road traffic offence information management. A system to correct road traffic offence information management failure as identified in the existing system was then proposed. Road traffic offence records and details of current safety measures obtained from FRSC and online in addition to research works, provided the basic data for the study. The system was designed using the object OOAD methodology and implemented using rapid Php IDE on a Windows 7 system, using PHP, HTML,CSS and mySQL technologies and Apache server as the application server. The result showed the high rate of road traffic offence as a result of poor road traffic offence information management and failure to improve on the existing road traffic information management.

CHAPTER
ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1     Background of Study

Nigeria
ranked as the country with the second largest road network in Africa in 2011.It
population density which varies in rural and urban areas (approximately 51.1%
and 48.3% respectively) translates to a population-road ratio of 860 persons
per square kilometres showing intense traffic pressure on the available road
network [1].This pressure contributes to the high road traffic offence mishap
in the country. In Nigeria, road transport is the most commonly used by the
majority of citizen, as the easiest option in moving goods and travellers.
Despite the important role played by road transport, the sector has encountered
a number of challenges emanating from poor road traffic offences information
management, resulting to incessant road accidents. Road accidents, resulting
from careless driving, over-speeding and other road traffic offences have
resulted to numerous consequences including deaths, injuries, disabilities and
loss of properties, all of which accelerate to poverty in the country. The
death of the most productive member exerts a devastating impact to the
families, pushing many into poverty with long lasting effect to their children
and their community at large [2].
The poor road offence information management
situation in Nigeria has reached such an alarming proportion even to the point
of sheer frustration and near helplessness. While many developing and developed
countries have made concerted efforts to reduce road traffic offence through
the adoption of improved management information technology, Nigeria seems to be
lagging behind.  

Global trends in road transportation have shown that efficient and safe transportation management models are becoming highly dependent on Information and Communications Technologies[3].There is need for technological interventions in reducing road offences and its consequences, road accidents. Road safety is a global concern not only for public health and injury prevention but also to improve efficiency in road traffic management[3].ICTs’ adoption in road traffic offence information management operations will help to achieve the ambition of drastic reduction in road traffic offences and road accidents prevalent in Nigeria.

1. Statement of Problem

The
way and manner motorists use the roads leave much to be desired. Vehicle
drivers take delight in driving on wrong lanes and even abuse the right of way
rules, thereby creating conflict in the use of traffic, course delay and
sometimes accident. This has lead to enormous road traffic offence on our roads
particularly in the cities. This is attributable to poor road traffic offence
management. Improved computerized Management Information Systems is the
fundamental and the bedrock for increase in Information Technology (IT).
Because of the importance of the improved information technology (IT), measures
are taken to evolve all sectors of the economy into improved Information
Technology compliant. The road traffic offence information sector should not be
left out, because an increase in the use of improved information management
technology has greater advantages, where process of collecting, processing, storage, retrieval and dissemination
of road traffic offence information for the purposes of planning, controlling,
coordinating and decision making are not in tone with times. The existing
system of road traffic offence gives no room for pictorial identification of
offenders. Hence wrong person could be accused. The system is decentralized
making road traffic offence information manipulation and accessibility of the
database difficult. Also the system has no room for pictorial diagram display
of the offence committed, as well as the penalty of offence as an evidence to
facilitate prosecution. Hence the offender often sees himself as being
compelled to accept responsibility.

1. Objective of Study

As Nigerian road safety agency, FRSC management embraces the use
of computers and information technologies in transport infrastructure. As the
development and implementation of improved technological systems continue, it
is believed that intelligent transport system will provide an increase in
capacity, management and productivity of traditional transport infrastructure
as well as contribution to achieving of other goals such as improved management
in road traffic offence.

This study seeks to design a system that can achieve the following
objectives:

• Centralised road
  traffic offence information databanks where road traffic offence information
  can be easily accessed by all authorised user.
• Reduce error in
  offenders’ identification, as lots offenders escape offence due to wrong
  identification (pictorial identification) during and after documentation which
  makes prosecution of offenders’ difficulty.
• Displays a pictorial
  sketch or diagram of an offence committed as clear evidence to offenders’
  crime. This can also be tendered in court during prosecution.

Road
traffic Information Management System provides road traffic information that is
needed to manage road traffic organizations efficiently and effectively. Road
traffic information management and the information it generates are generally
considered essential components of prudent and reasonable business decisions.
With the growth in information technology, the study offers numerous benefits
to the Federal Road Safety Commission and other organisations that deal with
road traffic offence information management. There are many reasons why a
research on the road traffic offence information management system should be
made at this time. The chief reasons being that:

• Road traffic offence
  information management system uses integrated database-stores all road traffic
  offence information in a single database. This enhances fast, timely and
  secured accessibility and sharing of road traffic offence reports for the
  agency’s decision making
• Identifying road
  traffic offenders with their pictorial images will aid the agency in authentic
  documentation and avoid prosecuting wrong persons.
• Often times, Offenders
  deny ever committing a crime they are apprehended for due to absence of diagram
  sketch/pictorial display showing the crime committed. Displaying offender crime
  for the offender to see enhance the agency’s credibility and makes FRSC road
  traffic information reports reliable.

1.5     Scope of the Study

The
study shall concentrate on importance of information and communication
technology to road traffic safety management discussions as well as research
works on attempts to improve on road safety management will be reviewed. It
shall examine the state of FRSC and then propose a system to arrest the
identified lapses militating against road traffic offence information
management in Nigeria. 

1. Definition
   of terms

Terms
are contextual. Words have the tendency to derive their meanings within the
context of their use. This section of the chapter is devoted to the definition
of road traffic computer terms used in this dissertation. This is important
because road traffic information management terms are defined differently by
different researchers, so specific definition of the terms as they apply to
this study is therefore necessary to enable the readers to fully understand the
meaning of the study and its proper significance.

Road Traffic Offence

This
phrase refers to any act that causes or liable to cause violation of road traffic
rules and regulations. Road traffic offence is an action taken or action not
taken that violates road safety rules and regulation. For instance not
reporting a road traffic accident is a road traffic offence.

 Information Technology

This
term also called information system refers to a set of interrelated components
that work together to collect, retrieve, process, store and disseminate
information for the purpose of facilitating planning, control, co-ordinating
and decision making. It usually includes hardware, software, people, communication
systems, and data [4].

Information and
Communication Technology

This
refers to the fusion of Telecommunications, Electronics and
Computer Information Systems used to retrieve, analyze, store, process,
transmit, secure and intelligently interpret digital data either in storage or
in transit [5]

Intelligent
Transport Systems

This refers to wide area of information based on wireless technology combined into infrastructure of transport system and the vehicle itself, these systems help in controlling and managing of traffic flows, reducing of traffic, finding alternative routes, saving of the environment as well as saving time [6].

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