Analysis of Environmental Factors Contributing to Victorian Road Accidents

The World Health Organization announced in 2018 that annual traffic-related fatalities had reached a total of 1.35 million worldwide, and traffic crashes had become the leading cause of death for people aged 15–29 years. Another 20-50 million people are injured or disabled. Road accidents are the 11th leading cause of death worldwide .In Victoria there were over 1200 road accident fatalities in the period 2017-2021.

Many studies worldwide have identified road accident hotspots by applying machine learning to geospatial environmental data. These data include roadway characteristics, the built environment, land use, road traffic volume, and socio-demographic characteristics. In the period 2021-2024 we applied python geospatial libraries to multiple open datasets to identify hotspots on Victorian roads. This research has been published¹.

It was planned to develop an app to support the Australian road safety ecosystem, and meetings were held with the major stakeholders including the Transport Accident Commission, Victorian Department of Transport and Planning, Road Safety Victoria, Austroads and the International Road Assessment Program (IRAP). These authorities pointed out that much work of this nature has already been undertaken in-house. Thus, whilst more research could be done, the resources required would be beyond a small consultancy like ours.