Analysis of Road Traffic Accidents at Different Intersections in District Gujrat: Case Study

Abstract

Vehicular traffic is a complex flow model containing a wide range of vehicles along with pedestrians that make the road traffic accidents a severe problem. Many developing nations including Pakistan facing serious road accident problems that impose enormous economic and social losses on society. Road traffic accidents can be defined as unpremeditated events resulting in recognizable damage. The damage may be of property only, personal injury, or loss of human life. Most of the accidents are clashes that can be avoided with better road safety interventions. It is learned from various studies that one of the leading causes of road traffic accidents is human error, negligence and over speeding, followed by a mechanical fault in vehicles such as brake failure, tyre burst, axle damage. Further road parameters such as inadequate geometric design of highway, insufficient width of shoulder, design of junction also contribute towards the cause of crashes. Elimination of road traffic accidents involving deaths, injury, and property damage from all road network is the major goal of road transport safety and this can be done by analyzing the facts influencing road traffic accidents finding measures to eliminate the causes of accidents, and strict enforcement of laws and regulations on the highway. This research work discussed and analyzed the current highway safety scenario in District Gujrat. The study also compared RTAs of different districts of Punjab province and identify the most effected district by the accidents using available data. The research also focused on the identification of black spots and analysis of RTAs on major intersections of the District. Some of the major intersection of the district is located on the section of National Highway N-5 stretches from river Chenab to river Jhelum. Further with the increase in the number of passenger cars, two-wheelers, and heavy traffic maneuvering through this section the rate of crashes escalated very quickly. The trends in available data suggested the same. The deteriorating situation of road safety needs to be acknowledged and investigated accordingly. The present research originates from all the above considerations and it intends to analyze road traffic accidents, to develop an accurate diagnosis, proposing measures for the mitigation of a burgeoning number of accidents, and to develop a better understanding of highway safety in district Gujrat.