Optimising Traffic Safety – Locating Traffic Gendarmes Based on Multi-Criteria Decision Making

Abstract

Turkey’s expanding population and growing economy have resulted in a significant increase in automobile ownership, leading to a rise in traffic volume and, subsequently, an increase in the number of accidents. The increase in the number of deaths and injuries caused by traffic accidents has motivated authorities and automobile manufacturers to work together to mitigate the impact of traffic accidents. Therefore, the demand for better roads, modern technologies and higher-quality driver training is becoming increasingly urgent for traffic safety. Due to the scale of harm to the country’s economy and society caused by the material and moral losses, resulting from traffic accidents, traffic safety and management is one of the most important government initiatives. One of the responsible units of traffic safety and management in Turkey is the traffic gendarme. This study reviewed the categories of traffic accidents, the number of accidents, and the road network that occurred in a province's gendarme responsibility area in Turkey and linked them with the number of traffic gendarmes in that province. Thus, the study utilised mixed integer programming based on multi-criteria decision-making methods to identify the areas where these traffic gendarmes will be deployed according to established principles.