Research proposal sample

Research proposal sample

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Causes of road accidents

The increasing road accidents and traffic jams are caused by weak road management systems and a lack of urban transport regulator. Increasing road accidents and traffic jams within the Kampala business district of Uganda cost businesses 23,813 person-hours per day (Kamuhanda & Schmidt, 2009). Road accidents cause (a) damage and destroy business assets and human capital, (b) increase stress to health facilities, and (c) death of family members and societal and communal settings without strategies to stem the causes (Osoba, 2012). The Uganda Police (2010) indicated that there were 2,954-traffic fatalities in Uganda. According to the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS; 2010 ), road crashes increased by 30% from 11,758 in 2008 to 22,699 in 2009, and about 33,900 vehicles were involved in road crashes during 2010. There are increasing traffic fatalities and destruction of vehicles involved in traffic crashes (Ministry of Works and Transport [MOWT], 2011).

The leaders of developing countries lack adequate technical resources and expertise to build safer roads, leading to poorly constructed roads. Few trained professionals are available, and those who are present may lack sufficient road management and road safety knowledge, may be unable to use an appropriate interdisciplinary approach, or are not familiar with recent developments and techniques (Roehler et al., 2013; Transport Research Laboratory, 1991). The existing institutional capability does not adequately cope with road construction and urban transportation demands.

A high percentage of persons and vehicles involved in the road crashes affect human capital and business assets (Demyttenaere et al., 2009). The lack of institutional capacity to maintain, rehabilitate, and reconstruct roads within the RMS leads to poorly maintained roads, missing or incorrect road signs and markings, and poor vertical and horizontal alignments, which render road users prone to accidents (Misra et al., 2003;MOWT, 2011). The increasing road accidents and traffic jams phenomenon increases the competition at regional and global levels for cities’ capital investment. Table 1 shows the road fatalities of different road users in Kampala between 2007 and 2010.

Road Traffic Fatalities in Kampala between 2007 and 2010

Note. Source: Uganda Police – Ministry of Internal Affairs

Within the urban transport sector, analyses of supply chain management, detailed value chain, general forces matrix, or Porter’s industry forces are seldom performed (Benmaamar et al., 2002; Carlan, Rosca, & Rosca, 2014). Benmaamar et al. (2002) cited barriers to entry in the Porter’s industry forces analysis, economics, and government in the external general industry forces analysis and supply chain management. The lack of (a) robust urban transport regulator, (b) requirement of minimum amount of capital investment in TOTS, (c) expertise knowledge on urban transport management, and (d) size vehicle fleet encourage new entrants to urban transportation business. The lack of TOTS expertise knowledge as a barrier of entry to urban transport business tends to increase informal entrepreneurship. Informal entrepreneurs thrive on business duplication without differentiation leading to high competition in the market. Informal entrepreneurship is prevalent in Uganda. The driver for informal entrepreneurship is social capital (Amu, Offei-Ansah, & Gavor, 2012; Da Felice & Martucci, 2012; Szerb et al., 2007).

Considering the barriers to entry, transport operations, and transport services, business management style encourages starters without the necessary expert knowledge, economies of scale, cost advantages, and technology to enter the TOTS business. The time and cost for new entrants moving into the urban transport market are not a formidable barrier to operate in the transportation sector. The practice of encouraging new entrants has allowed lapses in the process of issuing driver license and vehicle operating license, reflected in the form of traffic injuries and fatalities because cars and buses are not mechanically worthy because drivers have not been adequately trained to learn how to drive (Madeley, 2004; Ramessur, Seetanah, & Rojid, 2010).

There is no proper business analysis regarding the acquisition of vehicles, drivers, mechanics, spare parts, transport governing regulations, maintenance workshops, and taxes on the transportation business done in Uganda as it hinges on informal entrepreneurship (Benmaamar et al., 2002). Road accidents, which lead to a loss of business assets, entrepreneurship, and transportation services, are the result of a lack of proper business analysis. Furthermore, political leadership that favors foot hawkers, open-air markets, and motorcyclists operating without safety gear lead to increased frequencies of road accidents. These political decisions contribute to traffic congestion and high passenger travel time (Mahmud, Gope, & Chowdhury, 2012; Santosa, 2011).

The Ugandan economy and state had steady growth in between 1986 and 2001 following a peaceful and stable state, enabling growing investment in TOTS (Demyttenaere et al., 2009; Mulengani, 2009). The concentration of TOTS’ investments within the Kampala business district resulted in traffic congestion. Traffic congestion is counterproductive because the time for employees to be productive for the businesses diminishes, increasing employee turnover (Adler, Alfred, Kornbluth, & Sher, 2012; Barrett-Gaines, 2005; Huggins, 2012). Kiggundu (2007) asserted that commuters in Kampala lose 23,813 person-hours per day due to traffic jams. There is a loss of businesses profitability due to late arrival of employees to start work.

2.2 Different ways of reducing roads accidents

Kiggundu and Mukiibi (2012) attributed inadequate parking space, dilapidated and neglected road network, lagging public transport, and inadequate local funding to traffic congestion within Kampala. Recommendations are to use overhead or underground parking as well as improved public transport services to de-congest the city. To achieve the de-congesting of the city with traffic, the private and public developers should invest in constructing car parking facilities and bus terminals.

Kobusingye, Guwatudde, and Lett (2001) considered traffic accidents as a major killer along with others such as malaria, tuberculosis, and human immune virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS). The goal of the study was to show that the leading causes of fatalities and disabilities in the city were due to road traffic. The study findings contrast with a similar study conducted in the United States in a similar setting, in which traffic crashes and fatalities were due to speeding on rural interstate roads (Friedman, Hedeker, & Richter, 2009). The particular contrast is attributable to the different geographical locations and level of growth in the two countries. Differences and contrasts in transportation are due to current policies, behavioral orientation of citizens, and sustainability (Bamberg et al., 2011; Barr et al., 2010; Holden & Linnerud, 2011; Prillwitz & Barr, 2011; Xenias & Whitmarsh, 2013).

Mutto, Kobusingye and Lett (2002) evaluated the effect of an overpass on pedestrian injuries in the study area to ascertain the perceptions of the participants. The concern was that traffic accidents continued to occur at the overpass area notwithstanding the existence of an overpass as a safety provision. The goal of the study was to show that male participants had a mindset of being brave and strong enough to walk through traffic as compared to the female participants. The safety issue was not paramount to the men.

Benmaamar et al. (2002) conducted a study on TOTS of the public transport particularly minibuses within the study area and other two locations in the east and west of Uganda. The purpose of the study was to show that cars are more than eight years old without proper routine maintenance and with drivers possessing insufficient training kills. Benmaamar et al. recommended a review of the vehicle importation policy and adoption of private-public partnerships in TOTS.

The Benmaamar et al. (2002) study recommendations provided the foundation for this current study. The current study builds upon the identified gap in the literature as lack of strategy management review. The strategy management analysis on the routine maintenance of cars, driver training under the road safety and car importation policy within TOTS is lacking.

2.3 Difference in roads accidents by regions

Road management scholars estimated that road maintenance costs are 10% of the vehicle operation cost (VOC), whereas road users incur 90% road transport costs (Rheinberger, 2011; Thriscutt, 2010b). Luyimbazi (2007) analyzed and published that the existing road maintenance status in comparison to the desired state would create the VOC saving of U.S. $69.93 million, equivalent to 1.5% of national GDP. The shortfallon road maintenance status exhibited as the created VOC saving transcends as an extra cost of U.S. $251.45 per motorist annually.

The leaders of the MFP&ED pay for road construction and maintenance with the assistance of various development partners such as the World Bank, European Union, and Africa Development Bank through the National Road Fund. Locally, money generated from taxes levied upon the road users in the form of vehicle operating licenses and fueland lubricants used to run the cars. The opinion of the practitioners of road management is that the heavy road users should pay more and have their consent on expenditure of the funds they pay (Thriscutt, 2010c; Yunus, & Hassan, 2010). The aid from development partners is in grants and loans that attract substantial interest rates that are not sustainable.