Effect of Accident Risk Information Provision to Traffic Accident Reduction

Abstract

Accident risk information system aims to reduce traffic accidents by navigating drivers to the routes with lower accident risk. This study quantitatively evaluates the effect of the accident risk information provision by utilizing a dynamic traffic simulation environment – SOUND. The simulation bed is constructed to model the wide-area road network of Matsuyama, Japan. Accident risk estimation models are embedded in the simulation to calculate the timedependent route cost considering the accident risk in addition to conventional cost terms such as travel time. The simulation estimates the traffic conditions when drivers acquire the accident risk information in their route choice. The effect of the information provision system is evaluated by comparing the expected number of accidents with and without the system. The results revealed that the drivers with accident risk information prefer to use routes with lower accident risk, and the total number of accidents could reduce by up to 4%.