Traffic Control by Traffic Wardens in Minna, Niger State, Nigeria

P. N. NDOKE

Department of Civil Engineering,

Federal University of Technology, Minna, Nigeria, [email protected]

Abstract
Traffic control by traffic wardens on three at-grade interactions in
Minna, Northern Nigeria has been analysed. During the morning peak
periods, it was observed that with traffic warden control, none of the
approaches of the intersections operated beyond level of service E.
However, when the wardens did not control traffic, the approaches
operated at level of service, F, which has been shown in studies to be
unacceptable to most drivers. Taking other factors like stability of
electricity supply, motorists’ behaviour and society’s acceptance of
innovations into consideration, it has been concluded that for now, there
is no alternative to the traffic warden in traffic control in developing
cities.
Keywords
Traffic control, Traffic wardens

Introduction

The invention of the motor vehicle meant that roads were no longer meant for
pedestrians and animal – drawn carts alone. The invention called for improvement of
the state of the roads, which led to increased speeds and danger to road users. This then
called for a proper control or channelization of traffic to increase efficiency of the roads
in traffic performance. It is quite clear that the earliest controllers of traffic were people,
private or employed by the town authorities. Definitely there were conflicts at
intersections that needed to be resolved as man is limited in his judgement and stamina.
The first traffic signal was installed in London in 1868 and used semaphore ‘arms’
together with red and green gas lamps. This, however, exploded, in 1918. The first three
coloured light signals were installed in New York and in 1925, they started to he used
in Great Britain. Traffic signals are now used throughout the world, at intersections to
reduce conflicts to a minimum by time-sharing of right of way. This reduces the
capacity of the intersection, but greatly enhances safety. There are about 64 potential
conflict points at a four – leg intersections with two way traffic flows at which all
crossing and merging movements are permitted. The essence of traffic control is to
reduce this number of potential conflicts from 64 to zero [1].
When two or more traffic flows are competing for the same road space at a
junction, some form of control – or set of rules is needed to minimise delays and the
risk of accidents. Due to the fluctuating nature of electricity supply and at times total
black outs experienced in some developing cities, operation of traffic signals has
become an onerous task. The use of traffic wardens is a welcome idea, to replace
existing but non-functional traffic signals. The research question then is how effective
are these traffic wardens in controlling traffic? This paper therefore aims at highlighting
the problems encountered by the traffic warden in his quest to control traffic as well as
proffer some measures to assist authority in traffic management especially during peak
hours.

Traffic Management
This is concerned with short- term measures to improve the efficient and safe
movement of both pedestrians and vehicular traffic on the existing road network. The
function of a street or highway is to serve the travelling public [2]. One of the most
fruitful applications of traffic management lies in the improvement of highway
intersections. Minor improvements can be carried out which will reduce accidents and
improve highway safety:
 3-way intersections: [3] and [4] carried out extensive work on accidents at rural 3-
way intersections. The results showed that 25 percent of accidents were the result of
collisions between vehicles turning right from the main road and vehicles travelling
in the same direction on the main road (for left hand drives). This could be extended
to right hand drive to mean vehicles turning left and those travelling in the same
direction on the road. They also found out that the frequency of accidents is
proportional to the square root of the product of the flows and not to either addition
or product of the flows.
 Roundabout: [5], working in London on a study of 500 accidents at conventional
roundabouts found out that for one-vehicle accidents, 22 percent were caused by
 vehicles entering the roundabout, 20% by those on roundabout and 7% by those
leaving. For two-vehicle accidents, 8% were caused by both vehicles entering, 17%
by one entering and one on it, 3% by one entering and one leaving, 17% by both on
the roundabout, 11% by one on the roundabout and one leaving and 2% by both
leaving. The priority rule ‘Give way to the vehicle from the right’ was found to have
reduced accidents by about 40%.
 4-way intersections: These have been found to be more dangerous than the 3-way
junctions. Study [6] show that ‘YEILD’ signs can be an effective way of reducing
accidents at low volume intersections.

Evaluation Criteria
Evaluation of the efficiency of the traffic police was done against established
standards of traffic management. The manner traffic is handled to ease delays and the
levels of service so obtained. The number of conflicts or near conflicts was looked into.
Finally, the performances of the traffic wardens were compared with advantages of the
traffic signal to see whether their continued use is warranted.

Materials and Methods

Traffic and intersection layout are carried out. Three busy four-legged
intersections in Minna, named Dutse-Kura, Central Mosque and Central Garage were
chosen for this study. Minna lies within Latitude 930N and Longitude 630E in the
Guinea Savannah Region of Nigeria. They all have approaches on level terrain and
visibility of at least 40 meters. Sketches are presented in Figure 1. They all have divided
arterials for all approaches. Traffic studies were carried out for a week and critical
volumes presented in Table 1. Peak traffic occurs between 7-8 am, 1-2 pm and 6-7 pm
respectively. Delay studies were carried out at the peaks and a summary of results
presented in Table 2. Levels of service have also been calculated and presented in Table
2.
 Dutse Kura Intersection

Central Mosque Intersection

Central Garage Intersection

 Fig. 1. Sketch layout of Intersections

Table 1. Summary of Average Daily Traffic Volume (vph) at 4-way intersection

Intersection Dutse - Kura Central Mosque Central Garage
Approach A B C D A B C D A B C D
7-8 am 669 599 637 831 1742 113 1175 318 165 351 1791 323
8- 9 am 643 580 602 822 1631 119 1692 301 1702 319 1728 305
9-10 am 628 553 591 792 1592 119 1604 289 1689 208 1710 272
10-11 am 600 547 583 768 1438 102 1587 215 1502 202 1626 259
11 -12 am 599 532 505 743 1337 199 1521 199 1500 197 1497 244
12- 1 am 651 562 587 801 1574 110 1723 317 1699 298 1718 310
1-2 pm 658 573 622 817 1688 112 1768 320 1724 350 1763 321
2-3 pm 604 480 538 680 1532 97 1628 218 1666 290 1697 289
3-4 pm 582 479 532 682 1478 104 1519 215 1609 284 1385 236
4-5pm 553 466 519 604 1397 102 1386 206 1438 260 1432 234
5-6pm 638 556 583 799 1609 107 1738 309 1721 320 1766 311
6-7pm 631 577 623 827 1702 115 1769 316 1755 339 1759 322

Table 2. Summary of Delay Studies and Level of Service at 4-way intersections

Intersection Dutse –Kura Central Mosque Central Garage
Time/Approach A B C D A B C D A B C D
Total delay (sec) 600 450 525 750 234 90 2010 495 2115 270 2250 210
Average delay per 67 41 66 63 73 45 59 62 92 90 64 35
stopped vehicle (sec)
Average delay per 50 27 38 44 46 30 44 38 40 34 33 16
approach vehicle (sec)
Level of service (Los) E D D E E D E D D D D C

During the evening peak periods when traffic was left uncontrolled, the data
obtained for the average delays and level of service is presented in Table 3.

Table 3: Summary of Delay Studies and Level of Service when traffic was not controlled
Intersection Dutse –Kura Central Mosque Central Garage
Time/Approach A B C D A B C D A B C D
Total delay (sec) 720 480 630 900 360 210 1995 510 1800 465 1590 525
Average delay per 90 60 75 90 82 50 120 125 150 58 99 53
stopped vehicle (sec)
Average delay per 60 45 50 65 61 46 70 72 86 52 72 44
approach vehicle (sec)
Level of service (Los) F E E F F E F F F E F E

Traffic Warden Performance

 The performance of the traffic warden was analysed based on his ability to
control traffic and minimise conflicts and the total time spent at the intersection. Table
4 gives a summary of this analysis.

Table 4. Total Working Hours of Traffic Wardens at Intersections

Intersection Dutse -Kura Central Mosque Central Garage
Time resumed duty (Average) 6.30 am 7.10 am 7.00 am
Expected Time Closed for the day 5-30 pm 5.30 pm 5.30 pm
Total hours worked 11 10.3 10.5
Average time domain was left uncontrolled 1.04 hrs 1.56 hrs 3.13 hrs
Total hours wasted in 12 hrs 2.04 hrs 3.26 hrs 5.08 hrs.

During the periods of control, data were collected for the number of vehicles
obeying traffic orders, those not obeying and the conflicts caused, as well as during the
hour when traffic was not being controlled. Results are presented in Table 5.

Table 5. Motorists’ Behaviour at Peak periods at the Intersections

Intersection Dutse -Kura Central Mosque Central Garage
Approach A B C D A B D B A B C D
No of Vehicles 669 599 637 831 1742 113 1775 318 1765 351 1791 323
No not obeying traffic laws 200 105 50 100 50 3 50 5 - 1 8 2
Conflicts when traffic 12 crossing, 10 crossing, 14 crossing
was not controlled. 6 diverging 7 diverging 8 diverging
and 6 merging and 8 merging and 10 merging.
Conflicts during control 2 crossing, 3 crossing, 4 crossing,
4 diverging 5 diverging 3 merging
and 2 merging. and 3 merging. and 6 diverging.

Discussions
Traffic Control
The traffic wardens worked mostly for 10 hours on the average every day. Their
mode of traffic control is based on intuition and queue length. Traffic is supposed to be
controlled in a city like Minna, for at least 16 hours of a 24-hour day. During their
control of traffic especially at the peak periods the levels of service of each intersection
leg ranged between C and E. Level of service C describes operations with delay in the
range of 15.1 to 25.0 sec per vehicle. At level of service D, delays per vehicle get to
between 25.1 and 40.0 sec. The influence of congestion became more noticeable. At
level of service E, delays per individual vehicle get to 60 sec. This is the limit of
acceptable delay. When traffic was left uncontrolled at the evening peak hour of 6 to 7
pm it was found that all approaches to the intersections operated at levels of service
between E and F, which is unacceptable to most drivers as has been shown in studies
carried out by the Transportation Research Board and presented in [7]. This is an
indication that the traffic wardens are still needed beyond their 5.30 pm closing time.

Traffic Warden Behaviour

The warden’s control of traffic was mostly queuing dependent making it quite
difficult to follow a clear - cut cycle length for all approaches. He was also seen some
of the time to be influenced by the approach of service / force and administrative
vehicles. These could be considered as emergency vehicles and were accorded priority.
This explains why at a particular instance an approach could be operating at a level of
service C, while the adjacent approach operates at level of service E during the same
sequence of control.

Motorists’ Behaviour
The conflicts shown in Table 4 and the total number of motorists flaunting traffic
rules is an indication of the helplessness of the traffic warden in the control of traffic or
motorists with poor behaviour. These conflicts could have resulted in major accidents.
At such times, the warden is at a loss because his own directing might have resulted in
the conflicts.

Conclusions

From all indications the wardens are doing a good job but they must be advised
to work beyond the expected 12 – hours they are doing presently.
The installation of traffic signals would have been a welcome idea but in a
society like ours, if motorists still flaunt traffic warden’s directives, one could expect a
worse behaviour with inanimate objects like traffic lights.
The cost of installing traffic lights may be less than cost of maintaining a traffic
warden, but their continuous use is a welcome development in a society like ours where
electricity supply is epileptic.
Traffic wardens should undergo refresher courses on traffic control regularly to
improve on their mode of control.
 Traffic wardens can easily interrupt heavy traffic at given intervals in order to
permit other vehicles and pedestrians to cross speedily and in safety, something that is
absent in the control with signals.

References

[1] T.R.L. ORN 13, The Use of Traffic Signals in Developing Cities, Overseas Road
Note 13, Overseas Center, Transport Research laboratory, Crowthorne, Berkshire,
1996.
[2] O'Flaherty C. A., Highways and Traffic Engineering, Edward Arnold, p. 290-293,
1986.
[3] Tanner J. C., Accidents at rural three-way intersections, J. Institutions of Highway
Engrs., 2(11), p. 56-57, 1953.
[4] Colgate M. G., Tanner, J. C., Report LR 87: Accidents at Rural Three-way
Junctions, Crowthorne, Berks, The Road Research Laboratory, 1967.
[5] Webster F. V., Newby R. F., Research into Relative Merits of Roundabouts and
Traffic Controlled Intersections, Proc. Inst. Civ. Engrs., 27, p. 47-75, 1964.
[6] Box P. C. and assoc., Chapter 4: Intersections, in Manager P. A. (ed.), Traffic
control and Road elements - Their relationship to highway safety, The Highway Users
Federation for Safety and Mobility, Washington D.C., 1970.
[7] Transportation Research Board, Special Report 209: Highway Capacity Manual,
National Research Council, Washington D.C., Chapter 9, p. 4-6, 1985.