Hyderabad: Geographic Information System-based studies by the transport engineers of Osmania University in Cyberabad have revealed that 66 per cent of road mishaps occur in busy market areas that have commercial establishments and that most of the accidents are multi-factor events. The study says there are fewer accidents in non-commercial and residential localities.
The study also found that drunken driving, mechanical failures, overtaking, poor illumination, rash driving, sleeping at the wheel and negligent road crossing by pedestrians were the leading causes of accidents in Hyderabad.
Though drivers are responsible for a majority of accidents, other causes included bad road conditions, road engineering, traffic flow characteristics, behaviour of pedestrians and two-wheeler riders, absence of traffic signals and policemen.
The International Journal of Innovative Research in Science, Engineering and Technology has published the study by the OU Civil Engineering Department in its 2017 January edition.
Prof Molugaram Kumar of the civil engineering department of OU said areas such as Madhapur, Kondapur, Gachibowli, Uppal, Medchal, LB Nagar and Shamshabad, with busy markets and commercial areas, reported the highest number of mishaps.
“We have used spatial data which is generated by scanning maps from Survey of India or through satellite data. We have also collected road accident data from traffic police stations from the past four years. The computation has been done using the spatial relationship between traffic mishaps and road network elements. Maps are also made with GPS data and compared for accuracy with traditional accident records. This attempt will show how GPS and GIS combines to give accurate black spot identification, rather than relying on assumed data for the location,” the professor said.
Prof Kumar says accidents and fatalities can be reduced by having proper traffic control devices. “Any technology for bringing down accidents will depend on the analysis of traffic accident records at a given location,” he said.
“But the data required for such an analysis is not always available. Most of the information in police records is incomplete and not useful to the entire extent,” he added.
Lack of signage, trees and foliage that hide pedestrians from the view of drivers, improper design of pedestrian crossings, median openings at several places, and poor enforcement of traffic rules are areas that seriously need to be looked into, according to the researchers.
