Analysis of traffic accidents using spatial statistical methods in geography: Case study of İzmir city

Different types of transport are used around the world. The most common types of transportation are air, sea, rail and highway. The subject of the study is in the type of road transportation. Road transportation has positive results as well as negative results. One of the negative results is traffic accidents. The focus of the study is on this issue. Because many people die or are injured as a result of a traffic accident. An average of 1.2 million traffic accidents occurred in Turkey between 2010-2014. 88% of total accidents are materially damaged while 12% are traffic accidents that result in death or personal injury. As a result of traffic accidents, 3 768 people died while 255 507 people injured during 2010-2014. In addition, each year approximately 1 million and 2 700 vehicle every day get to traffic between 2010-2014. Therefore, the importance of such studies is increasing day by day. The city of Izmir was chosen as the study area. Traffic accidents within the boundaries of eleven districts in the study area were analyzed. Traffic accident data is obtained from two institutions and covers the years 2010-2014. These are the Traffic Inspection Branch Directorate of İzmir Police General Directorate and Insurance Information and Monitoring Center. A total of 31 169 traffic accident points were processed in Izmir city for five years. During the five-year period, 126 deaths and 23 640 injuries occurred as a result of traffic accidents. In İzmir between 2010 and 2014, each year more than 130 vehicles get to traffic. The aim of the thesis determine that in which areas according to the variables traffic accidents occurs intensively. Before the study was started, research questions and sub problems were established. Depending on the sub-problems in the study point density, line density and spatial autocorrelation analyzes were performed. At the end of the study, according to the sub problems of traffic accidents and the areas where clustered according to variables were determined. As a result of the thesis, it was revealed that traffic accidents occur intensely within central business district and residential areas. In addition, a high number of traffic accidents on the highways that provide connection to the central business district in Konak district were laid out as a result of the study. The reason for traffic accidents occurring in these regions is that the city attraction center is located in a district. Key Words: Spatial Analysis, Spatial Statistics, Traffic Accident, Izmir