A Study of Accidents Causes in Highways (Case - Study: Isfahan Urbun High way)

One of the most remarkable and important consequences of traffic accidents, often neglected, are the damages and casualties in these accidents. A community’s general safety is such a demanding challenge to meet, which requires coordinated and integrated efforts in launching preemptive plans and measures. Everyday people come across different and various systems, among which traffic systems are not only most complicated systems but also deemed as the most dangerous ones as well. Hence, this study aims at identifying the causes of car crashes on Isfahan highways between 2009 and 2010 within the city perimeter, calculating the efficacy of each functioning factor in these accidents, analyzing the spatial distribution of the accidents on the specific highways, and proposing guidelines and solutions for reducing the effective factors of accidents. In carrying out the study, the researcher adopts analytic-descriptive and survey methods and approaches the research by spatial analysis using GeographicInformation System (GIS). Regarding research hypothesis, this study also tries to investigate the most common causes of accidents, and explores relationship between violation of speed limit and severity of accidents. The results of the research reveal that the most common causes of accidents on Isfahan highways (within the city) are: inattention to the right of way (priority), failure to observe safe longitudinal distance between two vehicles, and distraction. Although speeding and overtaking do not account for a significant percentage of the accidents, the consequences and intensity of these accidents are very shocking. Inarguably most of the accidents resulting in the death of drivers and passengers are consequences of speeding and overtaking in routes where such acts are forbidden. The faster a car moves, the more severe is the accident, while the more aged is the drivers, the less possible is the occurrence of accidents. Most accidents happen in the age group ranging from 18 to 35 years. Finally with recourse to density function analysis of spatial analysis using Geographic Information System (GIS), frequency of occurrence of accidents on the highways is investigated and required data is elicited. The researcher comes to the conclusion that these highways in Isfahan, namely Shahid Khararzi, khayam, ZobAhan and Shahid Agharebparast have the highest occurrence of accident while other highways, Isfahan Eastern Highway, Shahid Hemat and Shahid Sayyad Shirazi have the least incidents of crashes.