Determination of definition for accident black spots in Sri Lanka

Abstract

The road traffic environment in Sri Lanka is getting more and more complex due to the increasing rate of vehicle volume and the number of pedestrians. The road infrastructure is not developed at the same rate; therefore the number of accidents that annually occur in Sri Lanka is relatively high compared to other countries. In Sri Lanka there are about 48,000 to 50,000 accidents occurring annually which results 1,500 - 2,000 fatalities and about 15,000 injuries. There is a gradual increase of vehicle population for the past decade in urban areas and it is about 11 percent per year. This makes a big impact to the road accidents in Sri Lanka.

The cost of road traffic accidents is the most relevant measure to quantify the magnitude of the problem. In Sri Lanka, total accident cost for years 1998,1999 and 2000 are Rs. 7,017 million, Rs. 8,134 million and Rs. 9,293 million respectively. It is about 1 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP)2. Therefore there is a great need for reducing the number of accidents in Sri Lanka to enhance the development of the country. The accident black spots, which have been identified by “National Road Safety Secretariat”, are based on the number of accidents and the accident frequency. This research was focused on a detailed analysis of accidents black spots which enabled to drive some useful relationships such as accident rates, bicycle, pedestrian accidents with the bicycle and pedestrian flow at the black spots.