Descriptive Statistics of Road Traffic Accidents in Enugu State: Trends and Implications

This study applies descriptive statistical methods to analyse road traffic accident data in Enugu State, South East Nigeria, over the ten-year period from 2014 to 2023, with the objective of identifying temporal trends, spatial concentrations, and demographic correlates of accident occurrence. Road traffic crashes constitute a leading cause of injury-related mortality in Nigeria, and state-level analyses are essential for designing evidence-based road safety interventions tailored to local conditions. Accident records are obtained from the Federal Road Safety Corps Enugu Sector Command and the Enugu State Ministry of Works and Transport, covering all reported incidents on federal and state highways within the state. Frequency distributions, trend lines, and bar charts are used to depict annual accident counts, fatality rates, and injury severities over time. Cross-tabulations are constructed to examine accident patterns by vehicle type, time of day, day of week, road type, and age of driver. Spatial mapping of accident black spots along the Enugu-Onitsha, Enugu-Port Harcourt, and Enugu-Makurdi corridors is undertaken using geographic coordinates where available. Results reveal a statistically significant upward trend in accident rates over the study period, with the highest concentrations occurring on federal trunk roads during weekend nighttime hours. Heavy goods vehicles are disproportionately represented among crash-involved vehicle categories. The study recommends targeted enforcement campaigns and road geometry improvements at identified black spots. Keywords: road traffic accidents, descriptive statistics, Enugu State, road safety, trend analysis