Abstract:
Road Traffic Accidents (RTAs) is a major cause of concern for any traffic safety organization. Identification of accident hotspots, as they are normally called, is a precondition to come up with practical solutions for accident reduction. This study has focused on adopting a geospatial approach using Esri ArcGIS software to identify higher accident prone areas in Rawalpindi District of Pakistan. Data for the year 2017 was acquired from Rescue 1122, a public Emergency Response Service (ERS) and sorted out using MS Excel. Statistical analysis found motorcyclists and pedestrians to be the most Vulnerable Road Users (VRUs) and over speeding as the main cause for most of road crash fatalities. Spatial autocorrelation was performed using Moran’s I test. Furthermore, geospatial mapping of data was performed using kernel density method and hotspot analysis (Getis-Ord Gi*). Traffic parameters such as the total number of accidents, total fatal accidents, severity, age wise distribution and other parameters were considered. Next, Voronoi maps were produced to identify ideal locations for providing emergency service facilities.
