GPS & GIS In Road Accident Mapping And Emergency Response Management

Abstract

Road accidents is a major cause of mortality worldwide with urgent action required to mitigate against the negative impacts. A comprehensive accident recording and analysis system can provide a GIS-based solution for control and management of accident events as a real-time monitoring system. This paper presents a GIS approach to road accident management based on spatial autocorrelation. It goes further to analyzing the spatial viability of emergency services offered to the accident victims. The study starts with the identification of the accident prone zones along Waiyaki Way in Nairobi, Kenya using GPS and GIS. For this purpose, the road accident data for the years 2013, 2014 and 2015 pertaining to Waiyaki Way was obtained from the traffic police department and used for analysis. Accident particulars like date, location, number of victims (fatal, serious and slight injuries), classes of victims (drivers, motor cyclists, pedal cyclists, passengers, pedestrians) were included in the GIS database. The " Density " function available in the spatial analyst extension of the Arc GIS software was applied to identify the accident prone areas during the years 2013, 2014 and 2015. Assessment of spatial clustering of accidents and hotspots spatial densities was carried out following Moran " s I method of spatial autocorrelation, and point Kernel density functions. An effort was made to develop a comprehensive accident information management system that can provide a GIS-based solution for control and management of accident events. This system will inform clients about accident locations, accident and service diagnosis, reducing the number of accidents based on the accident reports thus increasing the level of road safety and fast delivery of emergency services.