Investigation of effect of Ankara-Izmir high speed railway line to traffic safety between Afyonkarahisar and Sivrihisar section

Deaths and injuries regarding traffic accidents, that cause very serious consequences of both unbearable financial and social costs, have been defined as a public health problem by the WHO for some time. Therefore, traffic safety has been one of the major problems to be overcome worldwide. Despite the road traffic accidents are highly preventable, the desired level of road safety has not been reached in Turkey due to various reasons. Traffic safety, that requires a highly coordinated and continous work, is directly and indirectly related to many institutions and organizations supposed to work in the course of action. Reducing the number of vehicles on the highways and directing the demand of automobile use to public transport modes is one of the important tools to solve the issue. In this context, the effect of the high speed train (YHT) project, which has been constructed in our country, on traffic safety was investigated. Throughout the study, data were collected by means of surveys for the Afyonkarahisar-Sivrihisar section of Ankara –İzmir the YHT line and analyzes were made through computer programs. As a result of the analyzes, the possible effects of YHT on the highway were tried to be addressed not only in terms of traffic safety but also in economic dimension. The studies carried out has indicated, the high-speed train (YHT) contributes significantly to the decrease in road vehicle use and accordingly a significant contribution to traffic safety.