Accident Studies

I. Overview
• This lecture covers one of the most important negative impact of
transportation system, namely the accidents.
• This lecture first presents some introductory including salient accident
statistics, causes of accidents, accident data collection, accident
reconstruction, safety measures and safety audit.

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II. Introduction

• The problem of accident is a very acute in highway transportation due to complex

flow pattern of vehicular traffic, presence of mixed traffic along with pedestrians.
• Traffic accident leads to loss of life and property.
• Thus the traffic engineers have to undertake a big responsibility of providing safe
traffic movements to the road users and ensure their safety.
• Road accidents cannot be totally prevented but by suitable traffic engineering
and management the accident rate can be reduced to a certain extent.
• For this reason systematic study of traffic accidents are required to be carried out.
• Proper investigation of the cause of accident will help to propose preventive
measures in terms of design and control.

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Objectives of accident studies

Some objectives of accident studies are listed below:

1. To study the causes of accidents and suggest corrective measures at
potential location.
2. To evaluate existing design.
3. To compute the financial losses incurred.
4. To support the proposed design and provide economic justification
to the improvement suggested by the traffic engineer.
5. To carry out before and after studies and to demonstrate the
improvement in the problem.

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Causes of road accidents
The various causes of road accidents are:
1. Road Users - Excessive speed and rash driving, violation of traffic rules, failure
to perceive traffic situation or sign or signal in adequate time, carelessness,
fatigue, alcohol, sleep etc.
2. Vehicle - Defects such as failure of brakes, steering system, tyre burst, lighting
system .
3. Road Condition - Skidding road surface, pot holes, ruts.
4. Road design - Defective geometric design like inadequate sight distance,
inadequate width of shoulders, improper curve design, improper traffic
control devices and improper lighting,.
5. Environmental factors -unfavorable weather conditions like mist, snow, smoke
and heavy rainfall which restrict normal visibility and makes driving unsafe.
6. Other causes -improper location of advertisement boards, gate of level
crossing not closed when required Road
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Safety 5
Accident statistics
• The statistical analysis of accident is carried out periodically at critical locations or road stretches
which will help to arrive at suitable measures to effectively decrease accident rates.
• It is the measure (or estimates) of the number and severity of accident. These statistics reports
are to be maintained zone-wise.
• Accident prone stretches of different roads may be assessed by finding the accident density per
length of the road.
• The places of accidents are marked on the map and the points of their clustering (BLACK SPOT)
are determined.
• By statistical study of accident occurrence at a particular road or location or zone of study for a
long period of time it is possible to predict with reasonable accuracy the probability of accident
occurrence per day or relative safety of different classes of road user in that location.
• The interpretation of the statistical data is very important to provide insight to the problem.
• The position of India in the year 2009 in country-wise number of person killed per 100000
populations as shown in the Figure 1 and the increase in rate of accident from year 2005 to year
2009 is shown in the table. 1. In 2009, 14 accidents occurred per hour.

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Figure 1:

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Table 1: Total number of Accidents, Fatalities and Persons Injured
during 2018 to 2022

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Trends in number of Accidents,
Fatalities and Persons Injured: 2018
to 2022

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Trends in the number of Fatal
Accidents: 2018-2022

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Major Parameters of Road Accidents-
2022 vis-à-vis 2021

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Total number of Accidents, Persons Killed and
Injured by categories of Roads during 2022

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Categories of Roads Accidents,
Fatalities and Injuries during 2022
(in percent)

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Type of Road Accidents in 2022 (in
percent)

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Road Accidents, Fatalities and Injuries by Type of Collusion (in
percent)
(a). Percentage share of different 'Type of Collision' in total Accidents in 2022

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Road Accidents, Fatalities and Injuries by Type of Collision (in
percent)
(b). Percentage share of different 'Type of Collision' in total fatalities in 2022

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Road Accidents, Fatalities and Injuries by Type of Collision
(in percent)
(c). Percentage share of different 'Type of Collision' in total injury in 2022

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Decadal Trend in the number of
Road Accidents, Deaths and Injuries:
1970-2020

Note: In 2020,
reduction in
Road Accidents,
death and
injuries have
been recorded,
which is due to
restriction
imposed on
movement of
vehicle across
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18 on
account of
 ACCIDENT
SEVERITY
• Road accident severity measured
by the number of persons killed
per 100 accidents.

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Accident Severity
across the State/UTs
during 2022

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Decadal Trends of construction of
Roads

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Decadal Trends of Registration of
Vehicles

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Accidents, Persons Killed and Injured by
Category of Roads during 2022 (in percent)

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Road user category wise distribution
of Accidents during 2021 & 2022

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CAUSES OF ROAD ACCIDENTS
• Road accidents are multi-causal phenomenon and are the result of an
interplay of various factors.
These can broadly be categorized into
• (i) human error,
• (ii) road condition/environment and
• (iii) vehicular condition.

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III. Accident Analysis
Accident data collection
The accident data collection is the first step in the accident study. The data collection of the
accidents is primarily done by the police. Motorist accident reports are secondary data which
are filed by motorists themselves. The data to be collected should comprise all of these
parameters:
1. General - Date, time, person involved in accident, classification of accident like fatal,
serious, minor
2. Location - Description and detail of location of accident
3. Details of vehicle involved - Registration number, description of vehicle, loading detail,
vehicular defects
4. Nature of accident - Details of collision, damages, injury and casualty
5. Road and traffic condition - Details of road geometry, surface characteristics, type of
traffic, traffic density etc..
6. Primary causes of accident - Details of various possible cases (already mentioned) which
are the main causes of accident.
7. Accident cost - Financial losses incurred
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Safety to property damage, personal injury and
26
These data collected need proper storing and retrieving for the
following purpose. The purposes are as follows:
1. Identification of location of points at which unusually high number
of accident occur.
2. Detailed functional evaluation of critical accident location to
identify the causes of accidents.
3. Development of procedure that allows identification of hazards
before large number of accidents occurs.
4. Development of different statistical measures of various accident
related factors to give insight into general trends, common casual
factors, driver profiles, etc.

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Accident investigation

The accident data collection involves extensive investigation which

involves the following procedure:
1. Reporting: It involves basic data collection in form of two methods:
• Motorist accident report - It is filed by the involved motorist
involved in all accidents fatal or injurious.
• Police accident report - It is filed by the attendant police officer for
all accidents at which an officer is present. This generally includes
fatal accidents or mostly accidents involving serious injury required
emergency or hospital treatment or which have incurred heavy
property damage.
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2. At Scene-Investigation: It involves obtaining information at scene such as
measurement of skid marks, examination of damage of vehicles,
photograph of final position of vehicles, examination of condition and
functioning of traffic control devices and other road equipments.
3. Technical Preparation: This data collection step is needed for organization
and interpretation of the study made. In this step measurement of
grades, sight distance, preparing drawing of after accident situation,
determination of critical and design speed for curves is done.
4. Professional Reconstruction: In this step effort is made to determine
from whatever data is available how the accident occurs from the
available data. This involves accident reconstruction which has been
discussed under Section No.7 in details. It is professionally referred as
determining behavioral or mediate causes of accident.
5. Cause Analysis: It is the effort made to determine why the accident
occurred from the data available and the analysis of accident
reconstruction studies..
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IV. Accident data analysis
The purpose is to find the possible causes of accident related to driver,
vehicle, and roadway. Accident analyses are made to develop information
such as:
1. Driver and Pedestrian - Accident occurrence by age groups and
relationships of accidents to physical capacities and to psychological
test results.
2. Vehicle - Accident occurrence related to characteristic of vehicle,
severity, location and extent of damage related to vehicles.
3. Roadway conditions - Relationships of accident occurrence and
severity to characteristics of the roadway and roadway condition and
relative values of changes related to roadways.
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It is important to compute accident rate which reflect accident
involvement by type of highway. These rates provide a means of
comparing the relative safety of different highway and street system
and traffic controls. Another is accident involvement by the type of
drivers and vehicles associated with accidents.
1. Accident Rate per Kilometer :
On this basis the total accident hazard is expressed as the number
of accidents of all types per km of each highway and street
classification.
(1)

where, R = total accident rate per km for one year, A = total number of
accident occurring in one year, L = length of control section in kms
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2. Accident involvement Rate :
It is expressed as numbers of drivers of vehicles with certain
characteristics who were involved in accidents per 100 million vehicle-
kms of travel.
(2)
Where R = accident involvement per 100 million vehicle-kms of travel, N =
total number of drivers of vehicles involved in accidents during the period of
investigation and V = vehicle-kms of travel on road section during the period
of investigation
3. Death rate based on population :
The traffic hazard to life in a community is expressed as the number of
traffic fatalities per 100,000 populations. This rate reflects the accident
exposure for entire area.
(3)
where, R = death rate per 100,000 population, B = total number of traffic
death in one year and P = populationRoad
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ofSafety
area 32
• Death rate based on registration :
The traffic hazard to life in a community can also be expressed as the number of
traffic fatalities per 10,000 vehicles registered. This rate reflects the accident
exposure for entire area and is similar to death rate based on population.
(4)

where, R = death rate per 10,000 vehicles registered, B = total number of traffic
death in one year and M = number of motor vehicles registered in the area
• Accident Rate based on vehicle-kms of travel :
The accident hazard is expressed as the number of accidents per 100 million
vehicle km of travel. The true exposure to accident is nearly approximated by the
miles of travel of the motor vehicle than the population or registration.
(5)

where, R = accident rate per 100 million vehicle kms of travel, C = number of
total accidents in one year and V = vehicle
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kms of travel in one year
Road Safety 33
Numerical Example

The Motor vehicle consumption in a city is 5.082 million liters, there

were 3114 motor vehicle fatalities, 355,799 motor vehicle injuries,
6,721,049 motor vehicle registrations and an estimated population of
18,190,238.
Kilometer of travel per liter of fuel is 12.42 km/liter.
Calculate registration death rate, population death rate and accident
rate per vehicle km.

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Solution

Approximate vehicle kms of travel

= Total consumption of fuel x kilometer of travel per liter of fuel
= 5.08 x 10^9 x 12.42 = 63.1 x10^9 km.
1. Registration death rate can be obtained from the equation
Here, R is the death rate per 10,000 vehicles registered,
B (Motor vehicle fatalities) is 3114,
M (Motor vehicle registered) is 6.72 x10^6. Hence,

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2. Population Death Rate can be obtained from the equation.
Here, R is the death rate per 100,000 population,
B (Motor vehicle fatalities) is 3114,
P (Estimated population) is= 18.2 x10^6.

3. Accident rate per vehicle kms of travel can be obtained from

the equation below as:

Here, R is the accident rate per 100 million vehicle kms of travel,
C (total accident same as vehicle fatalities) is 3114,
V (vehicle kms of travel) is 63.1 x10^9.

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V. Accident reconstruction
• Accident reconstruction deals with representing the accidents occurred in
schematic diagram to determine the pre-collision speed which helps in regulating
or enforcing rules to control or check movement of vehicles on road at high speed.
• The following data are required to determine the pre-collision speed:
1. Mass of the vehicle
2. Velocities after collision
3. Path of each vehicle as it approaches collision point
• Below in Figure 1 a schematic diagram of collision of two vehicles is shown that
occur during turning movements.
• This diagram is also known as collision diagram.
• Each collision is represented by a set of arrows to show the direction of before and
after movement.
• The collision diagram provides a powerful visual record of accident occurrence over
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a significant period of time.
 Figure 1: Collision diagram of two vehicles

The collision may be of two types collinear impact or angular collision.

Below each of them are described in detail. Collinear impact can be again
divided into two types :
1. Rear end collision
2. Head-on collision.
It can be determined by two theories:
3. Poisson Impact Theory
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Poisson impact theory
• Poisson impact theory, divides the impact in two parts - compression and
restitution.
• The Figure 2 shows two vehicles travelling at an initial speed of v1 and v2 collide
and obtain a uniform speed say u at the compression stage.
• And after the compression stage is over the final speed is u1 and u2.
• The compression phase is cited by the deformation of the cars.

Figure 2: Compression Phase

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From the Newton’s law F = ma
(1)
where, m1 and m2 are the masses of the cars and F is the contact force.
• We know that every reaction has equal and opposite action. So as the
rear vehicle pushes the vehicle ahead with force F.
• The vehicle ahead will also push the rear vehicle with same magnitude
of force but has different direction.
• The action force is represented by F, whereas the reaction force is
represented by -F as shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3: Force applied on each vehicle

In the compression phase cars are deformed. The compression phase

terminates when the cars have equal velocity. Thus the cars obtain
equal velocity which generates theRoadfollowing
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equation: 40
 (2)
where, which is the compression impulse and is the
compression time. Thus, the velocity after collision is obtained as:
(3)
The compression impulse is given by:
(4)
In the restitution phase the elastic part of internal energy is released
(5)
(6)
where, is the restitution impulse and is the restitution
time. According to Poisson’s hypothesis restitution impulse is
proportional to compression impulse
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• Restitution impulse e is given by:
• (8)

• The total impulse is

• (9)
• The post impact velocities are given by:
• (10)
• (11)

• Where
• But we are required to determine the pre-collision speed according to
which the safety on the road canRoad
02/03/2025 beSafetydesigned. So we will determine v142and
Numerical Example
Two vehicles travelling in the same lane have masses 3000 kg and 2500 kg. The velocity of
rear vehicles after striking the leader vehicle is 25 kmph and the velocity of leader vehicle is
56 kmph. The coefficient of restitution of the two vehicle system is assumed to be 0.6.
Determine the pre-collision speed of the two vehicles.
Solution
Given :
• mass of the first vehicle (m1)= 3000 kg,
• mass of the second vehicle (m2)= 2500 kg,
• final speed of the rear vehicle (u1) = 25 kmph, and
• final speed of the leader vehicle (u2) = 56 kmph.
• Let initial speed of the rear vehicle be v1, and
• let initial speed of the leader vehicle be v2.
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• Step 1: From equation. 10, Step 3: Solving equations. 12 and 13, We
get the pre collision speed of two
vehicles as: v1 = 73 kmph, and v2 = 62
kmph.

Step 4: Initial speed of the rear vehicle,

• (12) v1 = 73 kmph, and the initial speed of
• Step 2: From equation. 11, leader vehicle, v2 = 62 kmph.
• Thus from the result we can infer that
the follower vehicle was travelling at
quite high speed which may have
resulted in the collision.
• The solution to the problem may be
• (13) speed restriction in that particular
stretch of road where accident
occurred.
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VI. Energy theory
• Applying principle of conservation of energy or conservation of momentum also
the initial speed of the vehicle can be computed if the skid marks are known.
• It is based on the concept that there is reduction in kinetic energy with the work
done against the skid resistance.
• So if the vehicle of weight W slow down from speed v1 to v2, then the loss in
kinetic energy will be equal to the work done against skid resistance, where work
done is weight of the vehicle multiplied by the skid distance and the skid
resistance coefficient.
(1)
where, f is the skid resistance coefficient and S is the skid distance. It also follows
the law of conservation of momentum (m1, v1 are the mass and velocity of first
vehicle colliding with another vehicle of mass and velocity m2, v2 respectively)
(2)
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Numerical example

A vehicle of 2000 kg skids a distance of 36 m before colliding with a stationary

vehicle of 1500 kg weight. After collision both vehicle skid a distance of 14 m.
Assuming coefficient of friction 0.5, determine the initial speed of the vehicle.
• Solution: Let the weight of the moving vehicle is WA, let the weight of the
stationary vehicle is WB, skid distance before and after collision is s1 and s2
respectively, initial speed is v1, speed after applying brakes before collision is
v2 and the speed of both the vehicles A and B after collision is v3, and the
final speed v4 is 0. Then:
1. After collision: Loss in kinetic energy of both cars = Work done against skid
resistance (can be obtained from equation mentioned below). Substituting
the values we obtain v3.

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2. At collision: Momentum before impact = momentum after impact
(can be obtained from equation. 2)

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3. Before collision (can be obtained from equation. 1): Loss in kinetic
energy of moving vehicle = work done against braking force in reducing
the speed

Ans: The pre-collision speed of the moving vehicle is 100 kmph.

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 VII. Angular collision
• Angular collision occurs when two
vehicles coming at right angles collies
with each other and bifurcates in
different direction.
• The direction of the vehicles after
collision in this case depends on the
initial speeds of the two vehicles and
their weights.
• One general case is that two vehicles
coming from south and west direction
after colliding move in its resultant
Figure 1: Angular collision of two vehicles
direction as shown in Figure 1. resulting in movement in resultant direction
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• The mass of the car 1 is m1 kg and the car 2 is m2 kg and the initial velocity is v1
m/s and v2 m/s respectively.
• So as the momentum is the product of mass and velocity. The momentum of the
car 1 and car 2 is m1v1 kgm/s and m2v2 kgm/s respectively.
• By the law of conservation of momentum the final momentum should be equal
to the initial momentum.
• But as the car are approaching each other at an angle the final momentum
should not be just mere summation of both the momentum but the resultant of
the two,
• Resultant momentum = kg m/s.
• The angle at which they are bifurcated after collision is given by
where h is the hypotenuse and b is the base.
• Therefore, the cars are inclined at an angle.
• Inclined at an angle =
• Now, since the mass of the two vehicles are same the final velocity will
proportionally be changed.
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Figure 2: After collision movement of
car 1 north of west and car 2 in east
of north

Figure 3: After collision movement of

car 1 and car 2 in north of east

Figure 4: After collision movement of

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in south
of east
Numerical example
Vehicle A is approaching from west and vehicle B from south. After collision A skids 60°
north of east and B skids 30° south of east as shown in Figure 4. Skid distance before
collision for A is 18 m and B is 26 m. The skid distances after collision are 30m and 15 m
respectively. Weight of A and B are 4500 and 6000 respectively. Skid resistance of pavement
is 0.55 m. Determine the pre-collision speed.
Solution
Let:
• initial speed is vA1 and vB1,
• speed after skidding before collision is vA2 and vB2,
• speed of both the vehicles A and B after collision is vA3 and vB3,
• final speed is vA4 and vB4 is 0,
• initial skid distance for A and B is sA1 and sB1,
final skid distance for A and B is sA2 and sB2,
•02/03/2025 and
Road Safety 52
1. After collision:
Loss in kinetic energy of each cars= Work done against skid resistance
(can be obtained from equation.

As vA4 = 0, it is not considered in the above equation

Similarly, we calculate vB3 using the similar formula and using sB2

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2. At collision: Momentum before impact is momentum after impact
(resolving along west-east direction and using equation.

Resolving the moments along south- north direction

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3. Before collision: Loss in kinetic energy of each cars= Work done
against skid resistance (can be obtained from equation.

• Similarly, using the same equation and using sB2

Answer: The pre-collision speed of the vehicle A (approaching from

west) is vA1 = 99 km/hr and vehicle B (approaching from south) is vB1 =
63.26 km/hr.

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VIII. Safety measures

• The ultimate goal is to develop certain improvement measures to

mitigate the circumstances leading to the accidents.
• The measures to decrease the accident rates are generally divided
into three groups engineering, enforcement and education.
Some safety measures are described below:
1. Safety measures related to engineering
2. Safety measures related to enforcement
3. Safety measures related to education

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1. Safety measures related to engineering
The various measures of engineering that may be useful to prevent
accidents are :
A. Visual guidance to driver
B. Road reconstruction
C. Channelization
D. Road signs
E. Other methods (Street lighting, Improvement in skid resistance,
Road markings, Guide posts with or without reflector, Guard rail,
Driver reviver stop, Constructing flyovers and bypass, Regular
accident studies)

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A. Visual guidance to driver
• There is consecutive change of picture in driver’s mind while he is in motion.
• The number of factors that the driver can distinguish and clearly fix in his mind is
limited.
• On an average the perception time for vision is 1/16th, for hearing is 1/20th and for
muscular reaction is 1/20th.
• The number of factors that can be taken into account by organs of sense of a driver
in one second is given by the formula below.
(1)
where, M = No. of factors that can be taken into account by the organ of sense of
driver for L m long, V = speed of vehicle in m/sec. Factors affecting drivers attention
when he is on road can be divided into three groups:
i. Factors relating to the road - elements of road that directly affect the driving of a
vehicle are traffic signs, changes in direction of road, three legged intersection and
various other things.
ii. Factors connected with traffic - Other vehicles, cycles, pedestrians.
iii. Factors related indirectly to the vehicle
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Road Safety
So using the laws of visual perception certain measures have been
suggested:
i. Contrast in visibility of the road should be achieved by provision of
elements that differ from its surrounding by colors, pattern such as
shoulder strips, shoulder covered with grass, edge markings.
ii. Providing road side vegetation is an effective means.
iii. The visibility of crown of trees from a distant location is also very
useful in visual guiding.
iv. The provision of guard rails of different contrasting colors also takes
drivers attention and prevent from monotonous driving.
Figure 1 and 2 is a visual guidance measure. Planting trees along side of
roadway which has a turning angle attracts attention of the driver and
signals that a turn is present ahead.
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 Figure 1: Bifurcation of the highway

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 The figure below is another example, when the direction of road has a hazardous
at-grade intersection trees are planted in such a way that it seems that there is
dense forest ahead and driver automatically tends to stop or reduce the speed of
the vehicle so that no conflicts occur at that point.

Driver tends to extrapolate the

further direction of the road.

So it is the responsibility of the

traffic engineer to make the driver
psychologically confident while
driving that reduces the probability
of error and prevent mental strain.

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Figure 2: Road seemed to be stopped by a dense forest
B. Road reconstruction

• The number of vehicles on the road increases from year to year,

which introduces complications into organization of traffic, sharply
reduces the operation and transportation characteristic of roads and
lead to the growth of accident rate.
• This leads to the need of re constructing road.
• The places of accidents need to be properly marked so that the
reconstruction can be planned accordingly.

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 Figure 3: Diagram
of accidents before
and after
reconstruction

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• The Figure 3 shows that there were too many conflict points before
which reduced to a few number after construction of islands at proper
places.
• Reconstruction process may also include construction of a new road
next to the existing road, renewal of pavement without changing the
horizontal alignment or profile of the road, reconstruction a particular
section of road.
• Few more examples of reconstruction of selected road section to
improve traffic safety are shown in Figure 4.

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 • The Figure 4 (a) shows separation of
direction of main stream of traffic from
the secondary ones by shifting place of
three-leg intersection,
• Figure 4(b) shows separation of roads
with construction of connection between
them and
• Figure 4(c) shows the construction of
additional lane for turning vehicles.
• The plus sign indicates the conflict points
before the road reconstruction has been
carried out.
• The after reconstruction figure shows
that just by little alteration of a section of
road how the conflict points have been
resolved and smooth flow of the vehicles
in an organized manner have been
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Figure 4: Road reconstruction technique
C. Channelization

• The Channelization of traffic at intersection separates the traffic

stream travelling in different direction, providing them a separate lane
that corresponds to their convenient path and spreading as far as
possible the points of conflict between crossing traffic streams.
• The traffic lanes are separated by marking relevant lines or by
constructing slightly elevated islands as shown in Figure 5.
• Proper Channelization reduces confusion.
• The number of decision required to be made by the driver at any time
is reduced allowing the driver time to make next decision.
• The principles of proper channelized intersection are:-
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i. The layout of intersection should be visibly clear, simple and
understandable by driver.
ii. Should ensure superiority to the vehicles using road of higher class.
iii. Layout of intersection makes it necessary for a driver running
through it to choose at each moment of time one of not more than
two possible direction of travel. This is achieved by visual guidance,
islands and markings.
iv. The island provided should separate high speed, through and
turning traffic flows.
v. The width of traffic lane should ensure unhampered turning to the
big vehicles. Width of straight section without kerb should be 3.5 m
and that of traffic lane near island is 4.5-5 m at entry and 6 m at
exit.
vi. Pedestrian crossing should be provided
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 Figure 5: Channelized
Intersection ensuring safety

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D. Road signs
• Road signs are integral part of safety as they ensure safety of the driver
himself (warning signs) and safety of the other vehicles and pedestrians on
road (regulatory signs).
• Driver should be able to read the sign from a distance so that he has enough
time to understand and respond.
• It is essential that they are installed and have correct shape, colour, size and
location.
• It is required to maintain them as well, without maintenance in sound
condition just their installment would not be beneficial.
• According to British investigation height of text in road sign should be
H=

Where, N = No. of words on the sign,

•02/03/2025 v = speed of vehicle (kmph),
Road Safety 69
E. Other methods
Various other methods of traffic accident mitigation are described below:
i. Street lighting
Street lightning of appropriate standard contributes to safety in urban
area during night time due to poor visibility. Installation of good
lighting results in 21% reduction in all accidents, 29% reduction in ``all
casualty'' accidents, 21% reduction in ``non pedestrian casualty''
accidents, and 57% reduction in ``pedestrian casualty'' accidents.
ii. Improvement in skid resistance
If road is very smooth then skidding of the vehicles may occur or if
the pavement is wet then wet weather crashes occur which account
about 20-30%. Thus it is important to improve the skid resistance of
the road. Various ways of increasing the skid resistance of road are by
constructing high-friction overlay or cutting of grooves into the
pavement.
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iii. Road markings
Road markings ensure proper guidance and control to the traffic on
a highway. They serve as supplementary function of road sign. They
serve as psychological barrier and delineation of traffic path and its
lateral clearance from traffic hazards for the safe movement of
traffic. Thus their purpose is to provide smooth and safe traffic flow.
iv. Guide posts with or without reflector
They are provided at the edge of the roadway to prevent the
vehicles from being off tracked from the roadway. Their provision is
very essential in hilly road to prevent the vehicle from sliding from
top. Guide posts with reflector guide the movement of vehicle
during night.

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v. Guard rail
Guard rail have similar function as of guide post. On high
embankments, hilly roads, road running parallel to the bank of
river, shores of lake, near rock protrusion, trees, bridge, abutments
a collision with which is a great hazard for a vehicle. It is required to
retain the vehicle on the roadway which has accidentally left the
road because of fault or improper operation on the part of the
driver. Driver who has lost control create a major problem which
can be curbed by this measure.
vi. Driver reviver stop
Driver reviver stop are generally in use in countries like U.S.A where
driver can stop and refresh himself with food, recreation and rest.
They play a very important part in traffic safety as they relieve the
driver from the mental tension of constant driving. These stops are
required to be provided after every 2 hour travel time.
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vii. Constructing flyovers and bypass
In areas where local traffic is high bypasses are required to separate
through traffic from local traffic to decrease the accident rate. To
minimize conflicts at major intersections flyovers are required for
better safety and less accident rate
viii. Regular accident studies
Based on the previous records of accidents the preventive
measures are taken and after that the data related to accidents are
again collected to check the efficiency of the measures and for
future implementation of further preventive measures.

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2. Safety measures related to enforcement

The various measures of enforcement that may be useful to prevent accidents at spots
prone to accidents are enumerated below. These rules are revised from time to time to
make them more comprehensive.
A. Speed control
Checks on spot speed of all vehicles should be done at different locations and timings
and legal actions on those who violate the speed limit should be taken
B. Training and supervision
The transport authorities should be strict while issuing licence to drivers of public
service vehicles and taxis. Driving licence of the driver may be renewed after specified
period, only after conducting some tests to check whether the driver is fit
C. Medical check
The drivers should be tested for vision and reaction time at prescribed intervals of time
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3. Safety measures related to
education
The various measures of education that may be useful to prevent accidents
are enumerated below.
A. Education of road users
The passengers and pedestrians should be taught the rules of the road,
correct manner of crossing etc. by introducing necessary instruction in the
schools for the children and by the help of posters exhibiting the serious
results due to carelessness of road users.
B. Safety drive
Imposing traffic safety week when the road users are properly directed by the
help of traffic police as a means of training the public. Training courses and
workshops should be organized for drivers in different parts of the country.
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