the analysis of traffic accidents in erzurum province and ... · erzurum, the study site; is the...

Journal of Traffic and Logistics Engineering Vol. 3, No. 2, December 2015

©2015 Journal of Traffic and Logistics Engineering 115doi: 10.12720/jtle.3.2.115-119

The Analysis of Traffic Accidents in Erzurum

Province and Its Districts Through Use of

Geographical Information Systems

Abstract—This study analyzes the traffic accidents in

districts of Erzurum Province through the use of GIS. In

this regard, Geographical Information Systems (GIS)

considered as useful and most comprehensive systems have

been used. The foremost and the essential part of this study

comprises of the creation of the spatial database and the

data inquiry. District map of Erzurum has been digitized

and transferred into GIS medium and number of traffic

accidents in each district have been shown on the map by

the category to which they belong. In this way, the districts

with the most traffic accidents and injuries can be located

visually on the map. The purpose of this study is to highlight

the use of GIS to ensure the traffic safety.

Index Terms—road traffic accident, geographic information

systems, injury

I. INTRODUCTION

About 500 000 people are killed in road traffic

accidents across all the countries in the world. Traffic

accidents are among the major issues of the world

because of this high rate of death. The number of people

who die in traffic accidents is huge in Turkey compared

to the other countries. The major and responsible factor

for this incident is that the factors causing the accident

cannot be determined.

Traffic accidents vary with respect to location and time.

Additionally, human factors must not be disregarded.

That means it is an indication of the dependency of traffic

accidents upon different reasons to come from different

socio-economic environments, to have different

educations, to be in different age and gender.

Given the examples in countries where important

improvements have been recorded in traffic safety aiming

at the decrease in traffic accidents, it was seen that these

countries carry out a series of studies through

multipurpose investigations. In a study carried out by

Baker et al., the number of people in United States of

America who have motor vehicles have been estimated

based upon the death rate, these have been mapped

according to districts for 48 states. The mortality has been

Manuscript received February 1, 2015; revised April 12, 2015.

found to be high in sparsely populated districts and to be

inversely proportional to the income [1].

Terzi and Karaşahin, in their study, stated the

importance of GIS in transportation engineering. They

have provided information on the usability of GIS for

studies ranging from the analysis of traffic accidents to

inventories, from transportation planning to junction

control [2]. In a study carried out in Harris district of

Texas, motor vehicle collisions which took place between

1996 and 2000 have been investigated temporally and

spatially. In this study, a GIS has been developed based

on Bayesian approach for inner city motor vehicle

collision analyses [3].

GIS provides great convenience in decision-making in

particular. Yet, it is possible to obtain visual information

using the continuous maps. Major factors may be

estimated through the creation of lots of scenarios. In

addition, when the mouse is located on the graphic, the

database which belongs to that particular point (if any) is

shown to the user. Data may be updated continuously and

communicated with other institutions through internet.

Thus, repetitive operations may be prevented between

institutions and the transparency may be improved. By

doing like this, the number of staff may be decreased, the

cost may be reduced and the production speed may be

increased. In addition, perhaps most important, the

quality of the work carried out is improved.

The current study analyzes the traffic accidents in

districts of Erzurum Province through the use of GIS. In

the current study, traffic accident maps have been

obtained for Erzurum and its districts thanks to GIS

Software.

II. MATERIALS AND METHOD

A. Material

Erzurum, the study site; is the largest city of Eastern

Anatolia Region with an area of 25.066 km2 and a

population of 780.847, and it is quite an ancient locality.

It includes the districts Erzurum (central district), Aşkale,

Çat, Hınıs, Horasan, Ilıca, İspir, Karaçoban, Karayazı,

Köprüköy, Narman, Oltu, Olur, Pasinler, Pazaryolu,

Şenkaya, Tekman, Tortum and Uzundere. This study

Ahmet Tortum1, Hümeyra Bolakar

2, M. Yasin Çodur

3, and Nuriye Kabakuş

1

1Engineering Faculty, Civil Engineering Department, Ataturk University, Erzurum, Turkey

2Engineering Faculty, Civil Engineering Department, Aksaray University, Aksaray, Turkey

3Engineering Faculty, Civil Engineering Department, Erzurum Technical University, Erzurum, Turkey

Email: {atortum, nsirin}@atauni.edu.tr; [email protected]; [email protected]


©2015 Journal of Traffic and Logistics Engineering 116

utilizes the data of accidents involving death, injury and

material damage belonging the years 2012 - 2013 (Table

I). Study material consists of statistics from General

Directorate of Security (EGM), Turkish Statistical

Institution (TÜİK), 12. Regional Directorate of Highways,

Erzurum Traffic Registration and Supervision Bureau [4],

[5].

B. Geographical Information Systems

Geographical Information Systems (GIS); are

computer aided systems in which spatial information; are

acquired, stored, displayed, analyzed, graphical

(geometrical) and database information (attribute) may be

utilized in a relational manner, access to the requested

information is provided by way of inquiry/analysis and

the resulting information may be visualized. GIS

contributes to the solution of management, planning and

analysis problems through the integration of data from

different sources information. Functions of GIS are listed

below;

1) Maps, aerial photographs, satellite images and

other sources for data input.

2) Data storage, re-use of date for different purposes

and inquiry.

3) Data conversion, analysis and modeling.

4) Data report preparation (maps, report and plans)

[6].

The data for this study contains that of years 2012 and

2013. The source for the data used is Traffic Accident

Reports and the data were transferred into computer

environment after these reports were reviewed. The data

were evaluated separately after this stage. Traffic

accidents which took place in Erzurum and its districts

have been handled in detail during evaluation and the

accidents involving deaths and material damages have

been reviewed. As a result, district map of Erzurum have

been digitized and transferred into Geographical

Information Systems medium and number of traffic

accidents in each district have been shown on the map by

the category to which they belong. In this way, the

districts with the most traffic accidents involving material

damages and injuries have been located visually on the

map.

Figure 1. Map of the accidents involving injuries for Erzurum

Province

Figure 2. Map of the accidents involving death for Erzurum Province

Figure 3. Map for the number of males who have been killed in the

accidents in Erzurum Province

Figure 4. Map for the number of females who have been killed in the accidents in Erzurum Province

III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Maps for the accidents which took place in 2012

obtained in GIS medium are given below (Fig. 1- Fig. 6).

Given the number of accidents involving death which

took place in districts of Erzurum in 2012, it was seen



that most accidents had taken place in central district and

Pasinler district had followed it. The most accident

involving injuries took place in the central district due to

its traffic volume.

Figure 5. Map for the number of males injured in the accidents in Erzurum Province

Figure 6. Map for the number of females injured in the accidents in Erzurum Province

As a result, lots of parameters such as socio-economic

status, traffic volume, development index and curve

situation of the road have influenced on the accidents

involving material damage and injuries. Given the maps

by the gender of casualties, it was seen that most

deceased males had died in Pasinler. Number of curves

on the roads were quite few in Pasinler. Since the route of

the road is straight ahead, the violation of speed limits by

the drivers caused the increased number of deaths in this

district. Given the map for the number of deceased

females, the most deceased females died in the central

district. Given the socio-economic situation, population,

development level, number of registered vehicles, it is

unavoidable that the most accidents involving injuries

took place in the central district. Since the number of

male drivers is more than that of female drivers, the rate

of which males are involved in the accident is higher.

Given the map for injured females in 2012, it was seen

that the most injured females had been in the central

district. More female drivers are involved in the accidents

in the central district as a result of the socio-economic

situation and development level.

Figure 7. Map of the accidents involving death for Erzurum Province

Figure 8. Map of the accidents involving injuries for Erzurum Province

Figure 9. Map for the number of males who have been killed in the accidents in Erzurum Province

When the 2013 data were reviewed, with regard to the

number of accidents, it was seen that the central district

had been in the first place and Pasinler had been in the

second place. Because Pasinler has a straight route, it was

the district in which most accidents occurred after the

Central District. Maps for the accidents which took place



in 2013 obtained in GIS medium are given below. The

number of deceased and injured males and females is the

most in the Central District in the year 2013 as in the year

2012. On district basis, it was seen that most people was

injured in Pasinler district. This is a natural result of route

of the road and the curve status of the road. Maps

obtained in GIS medium are given below (Fig. 7- Fig. 12).

Figure 10. Map for the number of females who have been killed in the accidents in Erzurum Province

Figure 11. Map for the number of males injured in the accidents in Erzurum Province

Figure 12. Map for the number of females injured in the accidents in Erzurum Province

IV. CONCLUSION

This study highlights the use of GIS for the

visualization and inquiry of the number of traffic

accidents. It became easier to access to the results both

faster and visually thanks to the use of GIS in this manner.

The factors having an influence on the Traffic

accidents vary with respect to time and location [7]. So, a

solution which is applicable to somewhere may not be

applicable to other location or it may not be more

effective. Erzurum province has been separated into 19

zones on a district basis to be able to find more realistic

solutions to traffic accidents which are of a complex

nature. When the obtained maps were reviewed thanks to

GIS, it was seen that the most accidents took place in the

central district.

When the accidents which took place in districts of

Erzurum were reviewed, it was seen that the most

accidents involving material damage had been in the

central district. This situation has been caused by traffic

volume, population, development level, increased number

of vehicle owners due to the influence of socio-economic

level. When reviewed on a district basis, number of

accidents involving material damage is excessive in

proportion to its population. Increased number of

accidents in this district is a natural result of closeness to

the central district, geometric properties of the road and

violation of speed limits by drivers.

When the maps obtained within the study were

reviewed, it may work to increase the number of

supervisions, to reduce the speed limit, to develop traffic

awareness among people in order to reduce the number of

accidents. The use of GIS for decision support purposes

for the planning and managerial issues takes an important

place in the studies of traffic accident analysis.

It is considered that both the workforce and the

economy would benefit if the real reasons of the

accidents are found and correct solutions are proposed. It

is estimated that statistical information which can not be

obtained before can be used for the analysis of the

accidents and that these will be effective for the

determination of the real reasons for the accidents [8].

REFERENCES

[1] S. P. Baker, R. A. Whitfield, and B. O’Neil, “Geographic

variations in mortality from motor vehicle crashes” The New

England Journal of Medicine,” vol. 316, no. 22, pp. 1384-1387, 1987.

[2] S. Terzi and M. Karaşahin, “Ulaştırma mühendisliğinde coğrafi

bilgi sistemleri kullanımı,” in Proc. Fourth GAP Engineering Congress, Mühendislik Kongresi, Şanlıurfa, 2002.

[3] L. Li, L. Zhu and D. Z. Sui, “A GIS- based Bayesian approach for

analyzing spatial-temporal patterns of intra motor vehicle crashes,” Journal of Transport Geography, vol. 15, no. 4, pp. 274-285, 2007.

[4] Anonymous. Statistics on Traffic Accidents, Council of Statistics

of Turkey, TUIK. (2012). Ankara, Turkey. [Online]. Available: www.tuik.gov.tr.

[5] Anonymous. Statistics on Traffic Accidents, Council of Statistics

of Turkey, TUIK. (2013). Ankara, Turkey. [Online]. Available: www.tuik.gov.tr.

[6] E. K. Foote and M. Lynch, “Georaphic information systems as an

integrating technology: Context, concepts and definations,” The Geographer’s Craft Project, Department of Geograpy, University

of Texas at Austin, 1996.



[7] A. Atalay, “Spatial and temporal analysis of traffic accident in Turkey,” Ph.D. dissertation, Civil Eng., Ataturk University,

Erzurum, Turkey, 2010.

[8] H. Bolakar, “Modellıng traffic accidents with artificial neural networks: The erzurum case,” M.S. thesis, Civil Eng., Ataturk

University, Erzurum, Turkey, 2014.

Ahmet Tortum was born in Erzurum, Turkey.

He has a doctorate Transportation Discipline

in Civil Engineering Department from Ataturk University. He has been working an Associate

Professor in Civil Engineering Department at

Ataturk University in Erzurum in Turkey. He is President of Transportation Discipline in

Civil Engineering Department at Ataturk

University in Turkey. He has got many articles printed in not only

SCI journals but also national and international indexed journals and

national and international congress about transportation, transportation planning, transportation engineering, traffic accidents and traffic

engineering. Dr. Tortum is member Civil Engineer Chamber in Turkey.

Hümeyra Bolakar was born in Aksaray in

Turkey. She has been studying doctorate

Transportation in Civil Engineering Department from Ataturk University. She is

an Researh Assistant at Aksaray University in

Turkey. Her primary research expertise is Modelling

Traffıc Accidents with Artificalneural

Networks in her Master Thesis (2014) Her supervisor in doctorate is Assoc. Prof. Ahmet Tortum.

She is member Civil Engineer Chamber in Erzurum in Turkey.

Muhammed Yasin Çodur was born in

Erzurum in Turkey. He has a doctorate

Transportation Discipline in Civil Engineering Department from Ataturk University. He is an

Assistant Professor and President of

Transportation Discipline in Civil Engineering Department at Erzurum Technical University

in Turkey.

His primary research expertise is Car Ownership in his Master Thesis. He has some

papers in SCI journals and national, international indexed journals. He

studied traffic accidents and prediction models in Ph.D. dissertation. His supervisor in doctorate was Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ahmet Tortum. Dr. Çodur

is member of Turkish Road Association in Ankara in Turkey.

Nuriye Kabakuş was born in Erzurum in

Turkey. She is a Ph.D. student in

Transportation Discipline. She is a research assistant at Ataturk University in Turkey. She

earned a master’s degree in Transportation

Discipline in Civil Engineering Department from Ataturk University. Her master’s thesis

is analyzıng traffic accidents with geographic

information systems. Her supervisor is Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ahmet Tortum.

the analysis of traffic accidents in erzurum province and ... · erzurum, the study site; is the...

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