Abstract
A study implicates the analysis of bus hazardous locations via data gathering using traffic accident statistics on National Highways in Thailand reported by Department of Highways B.E. 2549-2554 (2006-2011), then being used to formulate the hazardous spot map for travel trips with a view to reducing the crash risks of road users. Likewise, a road safety audit was meaningfully carried out at road segments having high travel accidents in order to carefully scrutinize the problems as well as provide suggestions on road safety improvement, particularly hazardous locations. According to results of black spot analysis on Thailand National Highways, the inspection using the accident frequency method ranked 30 accident risk spots from high to low accident frequency. Afterward the rate quality control technique was simultaneously applied for identifying black spots, and then made a descending order considering dangerous factor (DF). The findings indicated the largest number of 12 black spots in the central region, following by the north (8 black spots), north-east (5 black spots), west (3 black spots), east (2 black spots) and south (0 black spots), respectively. Regarding road safety audit in a case of air-bus slipped and fell off the curb at National Highway 304 KM 29+000, the major causes of accident were pointed out such as physical road characteristics with short-radius curves, rainy climate, and bottleneck features. Suggestions on short-term and long-term solutions were provided by this study. For the short-term, putting a warning sign for drivers prior to reaching the curve on both left and right sides, increasing skid resistance to the road surface before the curve to reduce vehicle speeds, and establishing incident management system were introduced; while determining appropriate curve radius should be considered as the long-term option. The contribution vis-a-vis application of results and recommended actions can further be delivered and utilized in other areas.
Highlights
Tourism industry potential is conspicuously remarked as a prominent factor enhancing economic and social development, employment and income distribution which accelerates gross domestic product (GDP) growth [9]
Data gathering was carried out using data related to accidents occurrence on National Highways addressed in the Traffic Accident on National Highways Report of Bureau of Traffic safety, Department of Highways which is directly responsible for administering highways with distance covering 51,643.492 kilometers [4]
The findings based on analysis and prioritization of black spots on National Highway across country using the accident frequency method illustrated 30 spots of accident prone areas
Summary
Tourism industry potential is conspicuously remarked as a prominent factor enhancing economic and social development, employment and income distribution which accelerates gross domestic product (GDP) growth [9]. For Thailand, the year 2011 was recorded the largest tourism incomes around 700 billion THB and reached the peak tourist arrivals of 19 million with an increasing growth of 19.84% compared to 2010 [16]. In consequence of such event, demand for travels has been steadily escalating which undoubted leads to increase in road accidents, [12]. When comparing the number of road deaths, the rate of 19.6 deaths per 100,000 populations was found, identifying hazardous locations on roads where bus accidents always occur is essential to develop the travel risk map for tourists and road safety audit in order to provide suggestions for solving black spots
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