The Ember Months: A Dark Time for Road Safety in Nigeria?

Abstract

Road Traffic Crashes (RTC) are known to exhibit various trends which are attributed to various factors such as the climatic seasonal changes and particular time periods, such as ember months (September, October, November, and December). This study explored the potential interaction between ember months and seasons concerning crash rates. Data on crash rates for 96 months (January 2014-December 2021) were extracted from the records at the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Headquarters Office, Abuja, and the dataset was organised based on the two independent variables: ember months and seasons (Wet/Dry). A two-way ANOVA was performed to analyse the main effects of both factors and examine whether there was an interaction effect between them. The results of the two-way ANOVA showed no significant interaction effect between ember months and seasons regarding traffic crash rates. However, significant main effects were observed for season (Wet/Dry) but with no significant main effect for specific months (Ember/non Ember). It was concluded that season has a statistically significant impact on crash rates, while ember months do not show a significant influence on crash rates. While the number of crashes does not appear to be significantly affected by the ember months, it is recommended that it is still important the Federal Road Safety Corps consistently enforce traffic laws and road safety measures all year long to maintain standards of safety.