Exploratory Data Analysis of Road Traffic Accident Patterns in Lagos State

Road traffic accidents remain a leading cause of injury and death in Nigeria, and data-driven approaches to understanding their patterns can significantly inform prevention policy. This study conducted an exploratory data analysis of road traffic accident records in Lagos State, South West Nigeria, using data obtained from the Federal Road Safety Corps Lagos Sector Command for the period 2018 to 2022. The dataset contained 14,762 accident records including location coordinates, time of occurrence, vehicle type, road condition, and severity classification. Descriptive statistics, frequency distributions, heatmaps, and time-series trend analysis were applied. Results revealed that expressways accounted for 62.4 percent of fatal accidents despite representing only 18 percent of total recorded incidents. Friday and Saturday between 6 PM and 10 PM emerged as the highest-risk time windows. Commercial vehicles, particularly minibuses, were implicated in 47.3 percent of severe accidents. Seasonal analysis showed peak accident frequency in November and December. Geospatial visualisation identified five blackspot zones concentrated around Lagos-Ibadan Expressway toll points and Third Mainland Bridge interchanges. The study demonstrates that pattern analysis can provide evidence for targeted traffic management and enforcement. Recommendations include deploying real-time monitoring cameras at identified blackspot locations, scheduling enforcement operations during identified peak periods, and collaborating with urban planners to address road geometry deficiencies at high-frequency accident sites across Lagos State.

Keywords: exploratory data analysis, road traffic accidents, Lagos State, blackspot analysis, FRSC