DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF DATA WAREHOUSE FOR ACCIDENT CASES AND CAUSES FOR ROAD SAFETY IN NIGERIA

1.1 Introduction

A data warehouse is a repository for all data which is collected by an organization in various operational systems; it can be either physical or logical. It is a subject oriented integrated time variant and nonvolatile collection of data in support of management decision making process. Data ware housing is a booming industry with many interesting research problem. The data warehouse is concentrated on only few aspects such as; accident cases and causes for road safety in Nigeria. Road traffic accidents (RTAs) are a common cause of disability and also a leading cause of death all over the world (Andrade and Jorge 2000, Ansari et al. 2000, Kopits and Cropper 2005). The dictionary defines accident as “an unexpected and undesirable event, a mishap, unforeseen and without apparent cause. The mounting toll of Road Traffic Accident (RTA) deaths in Nigeria has public health problem, which requires urgent attention since these deaths are preventable.

As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.

1.2 Background of Study

The Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) was established by the government for the federal republic of Nigeria vide Decree 45 of 1988 as amended by Decree 35 of 1992, with effect from 18th February, 1988. The commission was charged with responsibilities for among others policy making, organization and administration of road safety in Nigeria. It is frequently stated in literature that many developing countries have insufficient data on accidents (Jacobs and Sayer, 1983; Mohan, 1997).

Mohan (1984) estimated that only one-third of deaths from injuries were recorded in official statistics. Hospitals that record cases which reaches the hospital and may not be necessarily be the most severe. Consequences of Road traffic accidents range from the physical, social, and economic impact it has on man to the economic impacts it has on the national economy and the impact it has on the vehicle itself. Road transport has had a modest contribution to the Gross Domestic Product of the economy over the years. It normally accounts for not less than 80% of the portion to the GDP emanating from the transport sector as a whole (Agbonkhese, 2013).

Udomah and Edafiogho(1990),says that police records in Nigeria, regrettably published statistics that may be unsatisfactory from the research standpoint because if incomplete reporting, inaccuracies, varying definitions of accident and injury. Research would be useful to find improved ways of record keeping and co-ordination of existing records which will provide useful data for health promotion activities. Today in Nigeria, death by accidents far exceed those by any communicable diseases in the country, road accident have been recognized as a major public health problem in Nigeria for some time (Asogwa,1978).

Observations have shown that cases of accident in Nigeria don’t have a record after it has occurred. With the manual process involved in handling the accident cases records, most of the patients spend their whole day in the hospital waiting to be attended to, at the end of which some do not even get medical attention. It is quite obvious that doctors and other medical staff needs a helper-someone or an aid that may be of help to them to remember cases of accident, what happened to the victims and the necessary approach to the conditions.

It is also evident that the National Population Commission (NPC) also needs a better approach to record keeping of the population of the nation and also to measure the mortality rate and sorts of that which collectively helps in knowing the population status of a nation or a locality. This is essential because it is a factor which contributes to certain decision that may take place at any point in time.

As a result of these factors, this project work has been designed to bring some sorts of improvements in the way record keeping of the accident cases should be made to ameliorate the situation of the manual way of record keeping.

1.3 Statement of Problem

Investigation revealed that an efficient record keeping mechanism is needed in Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) to enable them take proper record of accident cases about a particular area which will at the long run help them also in knowing the various causes of the various accident incidences, how fatal it is, and how many individual (male, female, men, women, boys, girls, etc) that are involved and the various factors responsible to the accident occurrences. This has been lacking in the Federal Road Safety Commission of the nation and at this note is the problem that the study of the project aims at repositioning to make things be as it should.

1.4 Aim and Objectives of the Study

The aim of the study is to design and develop a data warehouse for accident cases and causes for road safety in Nigeria. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows to develop an application software that will:

1. Provide an efficient way of record keeping using the rubrics of database (set of integrated files) in the Federal Road Safety Commission.
2. Store and retrieve data based on accidental cases and causes data.
3. Provide information which will serve as an aid in knowing the various causes of several accident incidences.
4. Enable road safety officers to take proper record of accident cases about a particular area.
5. Help in querying for a particular set of field or range of certain entities on the cases and causes of accident.

1.5 Significance of Study

The study of this research work is most significant in the area of record keeping of the accident cases and causes which is a very good source of data for computation in the National Population commission and in nation’s budgeting. Also it will help in keeping record of the various frequent causes of road accident so as to know the channel by which the government of the area will go in order to put to stop those various causes of accident.

This study will be of immense benefit to other researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.

1.6 Scope of Study

The study focuses on the design and development of data warehouse for accident cases and causes for road safety in Nigeria.

The researcher narrows the research towards developing the data warehouse for accident cases and causes only, pinpointing the various causes most accident that occurs on the Nigerian road, designing a database software that will help in making the recording keeping of the cases and causes of accident which incorporates the common database operations like querying for a particular set of field or range of certain entities. The scope of the study encompasses the above mentioned featured which are what the researcher deemed necessary to be part of the end product of her research.

1.7 Limitations of the Study

During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:

1. Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
2. Establishment Policies: Establishment policies posed a serious limitation as most staffs are not ready to release information needed for this project work. There were lots of information needed from the staffs of this institution to enhance the study which took them time to release or they did not release at all for security purposes, hence the scope was reduced.
3. Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
4. Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
5. Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet).

1.8 Definition of Terms

Computer: A computer is an electronic machine that is capable of solving problems by accepting data, performing prescribed operation on the data accepting and supply the result of those operations.

Data: They are values, numbers, quantities or instruction by the computer user. Data are raw facts or figure that are not yet processed.

Database: a structured set of data held in a computer, especially one that is accessible in various ways.

Employment: the state of having paid work.

Information: It is the result of processing data

Personnel: It is a department in a firm, which deals with Civil Servants.

Management: It is the co-ordination of all the resources of an organization through the process of planning, organization, directing and controlling in order to attain organizational objectives.

Performance: The amount of useful work accomplished by a computer system compared to the time and resources used or when more work is accomplished in shorter time.

Processing: Is the series of things that need to be done in achieving a particular result.

Resource: a stock or supply of money, materials, staff, and other assets that can be drawn on by a person or organization in order to function effectively.