In the last few years, the number of road accidents has been constantly increasing in Ukraine and though during the war their number has decreased due to objective reasons (decrease in population, traffic, etc.) number of road deaths is still high compared to European cities.
According to “Vision Zero” concept fatal and severe accidents can be prevented. Introduction of this concept includes collection, analysis and application of data to understand the trends and potential consequences of road fatality in individual municipality.
Having the data on the number of accidents in municipality, the places of accidents’ concentration can be identified on the map. Possible algorithm of actions is provided below:
- Create Google map using My Maps tool;
- Find respective municipality on the map;
- Apply 3 layers: first – accidents involving pedestrians, second – accidents involving cyclists, third – accidents involving cars;
- Add to the map coordinates of the accidents’ locations:
- manually (find locations on Google map and copy the coordinates)
- automatically, using add-on for Google tables “Geocode by Awesome Tables”.
Tip from the experts: it is advisable to have data on the number of accidents for at least three years. This will give a clearer picture of the situation.
When the map is ready, you can see concentration of points in certain areas – locations of accidents. According to the Procedure for identification of the places of accidents’ concentration 2022, the places of accidents’ concentration in the streets and roads of settlements are: 1) up to 50 m long section of the road; 2) having two or more accidents with injured/dead per year or three or more accidents with injured/dead per three years.
Following identification and analysis of the places of accidents’ concentration, a respective engineering measure on a certain road section can be selected using the state standard DSTU 4123:2020 “Traffic calming measures”. The graphic materials below provide examples of typical situations.
Data collection and analysis, mapping and finding solutions to improve road safety in municipality are important skills developed by the participants of our ongoing training programme “Steps for Specialists. Mobility”. If you are also interested in the topic of mobility improvement in municipalities, you can always contact the regional office of U-LEAD in your region.