Citation

Alimo PK, Asmelash A, Agyeman S, Lartey-Young G. Transp. Dev. Econ. 2023; 9(2): e17.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s40890-023-00187-6

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In low- and middle-income countries, approximately 70% of inter-city trips are by buses but are characterised by rampant crashes. So far, there is scarce research on the spatial characteristics of bus crashes on specific highways. This paper contributes a geospatial analysis of bus crashes along the Accra-Kumasi highway in Ghana, where 53% of crashes involved buses (2236 bus crashes in 363 crash locations along the 243 km highway). Crash locations, trends, and geospatial relationships were geolocated and analysed using descriptive statistics and heatmaps. Bus crashes occurred mainly in the catchment areas of Accra and Kumasi. Along the highway, crashes were predominant: (1) at straight road sections and curves, (2) near dense settlements, (3) around vehicle service stations such as mechanic shops and fuel filling stations, and (4) in the afternoon under clear weather conditions. The major causes of bus crashes are driver inattention, excess speeding, lane-changing, and car-following behaviour. The minor causes are driver inexperience, poor road signage, improper turning, and fatigue. Most crashes result from rear-ended and head-on collisions. Possible countermeasures include the expansion of the road lanes, installing bus surveillance technologies, specialised warning signs near crash-prone locations, and increased police monitoring and regulatory enforcement.

FINDINGS and proposed countermeasures are helpful to all low- and middle-income countries having rampant intercity and highway bus crashes.

Language: en

Keywords

Bus crashes; Crash countermeasures; Crash-prone locations; Geospatial analysis; Highway crashes