Traffic violations analysis: Identifying risky areas and common violations

Abstract

Road traffic accidents caused by traffic violations are a major public health issue that results in loss of lives and economic costs. Therefore, it is important to prioritize road safety measures that reduce the incidence and severity of accidents. In this study, we suggest an incremental road safety strategy that identifies high-risk areas and common traffic violations in order to prioritize further enforcement. In fact, by analyzing data on traffic violations in different districts and comparing them to the overall average using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov (KS) test, risky areas are identified and the most common violations are detected. We performed a comparison between several types of clustering optimizations to spot clusters to be enforced in order to reduce violations. Our results indicate that some Districts have a higher risk of traffic violations than others do, and some violations (Speeding, Registration, License, Belt, Influence, Phone, etc.) are more common than others are. We also find that k-means clustering provides the best results for identifying clusters of violations records and optimizing enforcement strategies. Our findings can be adopted by law enforcement agencies to focus on high-risk areas and target the most common violations in order to optimize their resources and improve road safety.