Analysis of traffic accidents based on geographic information systems: Example of Antalya province central distircts

Transportation is a complex system that has been important since the early times of human history for the continuity of life and the development of civilization such as health, education and trade. In today's world, highway, maritime, airline and railway transportation are used. One of the most preferred types of transportation is highway transportation. Highway transportation started on foot in the early ages and diversified with the domestication of animals, the invention of the wheel, the industrial revolution and the discovery of the car. In this type of transportation, road disruptions caused by various reasons and traffic accidents cause interruptions in transportation. Traffic accidents can cause material damage to vehicles and physical injury or even death to people. In recent years, different studies have been carried out to prevent traffic accidents. In some of these studies, the locations where major traffic accidents are concentrated (accident hotspots) are identified by various methods. In the introduction and follow-up of the identified accident black spots (KKN), region-specific solutions are proposed as a result of analysis and/or observations. In recent years, coordinate-based geographic information systems (GIS) have been used to identify accident hotspots. It is recommended that the identified accident hotspots should be improved on risky road sections through engineering methods such as signal plan changes and geometric adjustments. In this thesis, it is aimed to determine the accident prone road sections and accident black spots by considering the spatial locations for the central districts of Antalya Province, which is one of the cities with the highest population growth in Turkey due to both tourism activities and intensive migration. In this direction, traffic accidents occurring in Aksu, Döşemealtı, Kepez, Konyaaltı and Muratpaşa Districts taken from the General Directorate of Security (EGM) were analysed. As a result of the analysis using the SPSS statistical program, it was determined that there was no anomaly in the distribution of accidents according to age groups. In addition, by using heat map and kernel density estimation methods in QGIS, a Geographical Information System (GIS) program, accident prone areas in the regions covered by the thesis were determined and these points were mapped. In addition, within the scope of a sample study, the locations of accident black spots of certain sections were determined by using the accident count method. In addition, Torus Roundabout program was used in the thesis. Thus, the geometric design of the roundabouts identified as accident prone was analysed in terms of safe driving. As a result of the analysis, it was determined that most of the accidents were caused by drivers not obeying the rules.