Investigating articulated heavy-vehicle crashes in Western Australia using a spatial approach

• Published in: Accident analysis and prevention Vol. 106; pp. 243 - 253
• Main Authors: Gudes, Ori, Varhol, Richard, Sun, Qian (Chayn), Meuleners, Lynn
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.09.2017
• Subjects: Accidents, Traffic - statistics & numerical data; Articulated heavy vehicles; Emerging hotspot analysis; Humans; Motor Vehicles - statistics & numerical data; Risk Factors; Spatial Analysis; Western Australia; Spatial analysis; Western Australia; Emerging hotspot analysis; Articulated heavy vehicles
• ISSN: 0001-4575; 1879-2057
• DOI: 10.1016/j.aap.2017.05.026

•Space-time cube method was used to visualise retrospective crashes data.•Beyond traditional hot spots analysis, emerging hot spots analysis provides trends over time.•First demonstration of spatial-temporal-categorical analysis for Heavy Vehicle crashes.•First study to provide definitive trends in the spatial-temporal patterns.•First study to identify emerging critical areas of heavy vehicle crashes in Western Australia. Recent developments in Western Australia's economy including widespread traffic congestion as well as road safety issues are increasingly becoming prominent. Previous studies relied on traditional statistical methods to investigate patterns and characteristics of motor vehicle crashes. Although useful, statistical analysis alone is incapable of providing a spatial context and is therefore unable to associate existing crash characteristics with a spatial distribution. To identify concentrations or “hotspots” of articulated heavy vehicle crashes in WA between the years 2001–2013, by using a spatial analysis approach. Spatial modelling and spatio-temporal analytical methods such as Emerging Hotspots were used to identify emerging hotspots on specific roads in Western Australia using the Integrated Road Information System (IRIS). The results suggest that the majority of articulated heavy vehicles crashes occurred in the vicinity or within the Perth metropolitan area. Based on spatial-temporal trend analyses, our findings highlight some regions that are emerging as areas of interest. This study was one of the first attempts to adopt a spatial analysis approach in studying heavy-vehicle crashes in Western Australia. Applying spatial methodologies to road safety data has the potential of obtaining previously undiscovered insights, which can be extended further, and provide future avenues to research in this field.