172

CHAPTER 7

ACCIDENT SEVERITY INDEX

7.1 GENERAL

While computing ARI, fatality rate and injury rate are not
considered. To overcome this drawback index viz. accident severity index
(ASI) is computed. The severity of accidents can be measured in terms of the
number of fatal accidents or total economic loss due to accidents. Severe
accidents not only lead to human loss of life but also heavy economic loss to
the country. It is worthwhile to mention that 47% of total fatal accidents in
Tamilnadu occur on National Highway (NH) alone even though NH network
in Tamilnadu constitutes only 6% of total NH network of India. Therefore it is
necessary to form an index by taking into account all these factors. In this
chapter, an attempt has been made to form Accident Severity Index (ASI) by
combining a set of accident indicators. Value of the ASI has been computed
and compared across the districts of Tamilnadu in India.

7.2 INTRODUCTION

The human population of Tamilnadu is around 7 crores in 2001

census. Though the human population growth has been contained to some
extent, there has been a virtual explosion of vehicle population. The problems
of road accidents have been on the increase both in social and economic terms
because of rapid industrialization, urbanisation etc., throughout the country.
An accident could be defined as an unplanned and uncontrolled event in
 173

which action and reaction of an object, substance and person results in

personal injury or damage to property. It is therefore, an event which occurs
due to human error mostly and error of judgement. The road accident problem
which has grown to gargantuan proportions needs urgent action to
curtail/control the occurrence of road accidents. One of the steps in accident
analysis is the identification of the trend of accidents, so that more intensive
studies could be taken up in order to avoid or at least minimize the frequency
of accidents. The problem of accidents is very acute in highway
transportation, in developing countries, due to complex flow patterns of
vehicular traffic, presence of mixed traffic and pedestrians. The statistical
analysis of accidents carried out periodically at critical locations or road
stretches or zones, will help to arrive at suitable measures to decrease the
accident rates effectively (Baerwald 1976 and Pline 1992). Though belated
the recognition has now come that road safety is not only a transportation
issue, but also a public health issue. Country wide, every day people die and
some people become disabled due to road crashes.

To enhance highway safety, the state government has started

allocating significant funds to counter this problem. To identify the zones
which are an accident risk, a scientific approach to assess the problem is
needed. The findings of such an approach will enable the authorities to
channalise the funds according to the actual needs and not on adhoc basis
(Baerwald 1976). In 2001, more than 9000 fatalities and 35,000 injuries took
place in Tamilnadu which is an eye opener. The problem has grown in a
gigantic proportion. The first task is to analyse the accident data available in
the state and evolve a suitable technique to identify the accident risk zones
and rank them. Accident risk index and accident severity index are two such
indicators to rank the districts based on the accident rates (Chand and Alex
2007, Srinivasan et al 1987 and Srinivasan and Chand 1984).
 174

A number of factors like, population, number of vehicles, surfaced

road length etc. can be correlated to the growth of accidents. Table 7.1 gives a
comparative picture of the growth of accidents based on the above mentioned
factors in 1997 and 2008. The rate of accidents per lakh population has
increased from 80.52418 in 1997 to 88.01168 in 2008. Accidents with respect
to surfaced road length have also increased. Though the accident rate with
respect to vehicles has declined from 15.20860 in 1997 to 5.26984 in 2008, it
cannot be concluded that safety has improved. The major increase in number
of vehicles has come from two-wheelers, and these vehicles run for shorter
length, compared to buses, trucks, etc. The rate in terms of the number of
accidents per lakh vehicle kms has not declined, and number of accidents in
absolute terms continues to grow.

An attempt has been made in this study to compute ASI based on

data from 1997 to 2008 for 29 districts of Tamilnadu and rank them according
to accident risk and analyze the findings. These indices are based on set of
accident indicators, which are combined together to form an index (Chand
and Alex 2007 and Srinivasan 1964).

In the chapter 4, accident severity index is defined as the number of

persons killed per 100 accidents. But in this chapter accident severity index
(ASI) is calculated based on the four parameters namely, number of accidents,
population, road length, area and number of registered vehicles using the
methodology given. These two concepts are different.

7.3 METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY

7.3.1 Collection of Accident Data

Data related to number of accidents, vehicles as well as human

population, area and length of the surfaced road were collected for 29 districts
from the concerned authorities. These data pertain to the study period of 1997
 175

to 2008. Data pertaining to Krishnagiri and Chengalpattu were not collected

due to bifurcation process.

Table 7.1 Growth of Accidents and Associated Factors in Tamilnadu

During 1997 and 2008

Year 1997 2008

Population (Lakhs) 600.94996 661.05998
Number of Vehicles (Lakhs) 36.181819 110.40369
Surfaced Road Length (Lakh km) 1.82022 1.92319
Number of Accidents (Lakhs) 0.48391 0.58181
Accidents / Lakh Population 80.52418 88.01168
Accidents / 1000 Vehicles 15.20860 5.26984
Accidents / 1000 km of surfaced Road length 265.85248 302.52320

7.3.2 Analysis of Accident Data

In this section, the trend in accident growth based on the growth of

vehicles is analysed. The required data for 29 districts for the years 1997 and
2008 is furnished in Table 7.2. An analysis of the data in Table 7.2 indicates
that Thiruvallur district has the highest growth of accidents (7.16%) followed
by Kanniyakumari and Karur. Tiruchirappalli, the centre of Tamilnadu has the
lowest growth of accidents. Dharmapuri, Chennai, the Nilgiris and Dindigul
registered a declining rate of accident. But when the growth of accident is
compared with the growth of vehicles, the results are different. Perambalur
has the highest vehicular as well as accident growth. It has both positive
vehicular as well as accident growth rate. Districts like Dharmapuri, the
Nilgiris and Tiruchirappalli have negative accident growth rate but the lowest
vehicle growth rate. The Nilgiris, Salem and Chennai fall under this category.
 176

Table 7.2 Growth of Accidents and Vehicles in Different Districts of

Tamilnadu in 1997 and 2008

No. of Vehicles No. of Annual Growth

Sl. Name of the
(lakes) Accidents Rate in
No. District
1997 2008 1997 2008 Vehicles Accidents
1 Thiruvallur 1.36392 4.22338 538 1233 9.87678 7.15565
2 Kanniyakumari 0.58732 1.81424 589 1225 9.85462 6.29228
3 Karur 0.56931 1.72175 526 1060 9.66089 6.01322
4 Then 0.33768 1.04767 486 969 9.89466 5.91902
5 Thiruvannamalai 0.62778 1.89927 858 1561 9.66422 5.11378
6 Tirunelveli 0.99637 3.11964 1135 2035 9.97830 4.98584
7 Namakal 1.75548 3.81212 964 1675 6.67539 4.71160
8 Thoothukkudi 0.66349 1.85748 914 1491 8.95759 4.16239
9 Nagapattinam 0.4017 1.19636 841 1351 9.52082 4.02913
10 Cuddalore 0.97645 2.70993 1856 2892 8.87855 3.76519
11 Ramanathapuram 0.28295 0.86426 463 714 9.75169 3.67557
12 Salem 2.31893 5.64184 2053 3078 7.69059 3.43241
13 Vellore 1.16985 3.89964 2074 3071 10.55402 3.32512
14 Perambalur 0.03637 0.8062 537 793 29.46180 3.30188
15 Kancheepuram 0.63994 6.82036 2012 2927 21.79768 3.17304
16 Villupuram 0.49263 1.65561 2084 3013 10.62920 3.11973
17 Coimbatore 4.93655 15.71904 3698 4996 10.13285 2.53874
18 Thiruvarur 0.04586 0.73443 638 846 26.00169 2.37937
19 Pudukkottai 0.36832 1.52989 877 1157 12.59944 2.33585
20 Erode 1.65908 4.97439 2046 2690 9.58204 2.30666
21 Thanjavur 0.62717 2.11129 1867 2437 10.64460 2.24512
22 Sivagangai 0.27622 1.3654 575 746 14.24409 2.19334
23 Virudhunagar 0.72124 2.27252 791 1011 10.03622 2.06603
24 Chennai 9.75009 23.66974 6026 7407 7.67100 1.73439
25 Dindigul 0.69868 2.00715 1426 1729 9.19224 1.61854
26 Madurai 1.55621 4.5643 2205 2357 9.38107 0.55706
27 Tiruchirappalli 1.23549 4.10424 1960 1943 10.52218 -0.07257
28 Dharmapuri 0.77642 2.4058 1724 1498 9.88293 -1.16414
29 The Nilgiris 0.25729 0.47303 393 276 5.20559 -2.90213
 177

7.3.3 Methodology of Accident Severity Index

In accident risk, injury rate and fatality rate are not considered. To
over come this drawback another index namely, Accident Severity Index
(ASI) is used. The various steps for finding out ASI are discussed below
(Chand and Alex 2007)

Let K it = Number of persons killed in the region at time t

Iit = Number of persons injured in the region at time t

w1, w2, w3 = Weights given

K (i) = exponentially weighted average values of persons

killed

I (i) = exponentially weighted average values of persons

injured.

Other variables are the same as explained in the methodology of

computing ARI in the chapter 6. The EWA values of persons killed and
injured [K (i) and I (i)] can be calculated like that of population, area, road
length and number of vehicle using equation (6.2) in the chapter 6. After
calculating these values using the previous chapter (ARI) the following ratios
are to be computed for ASI as follows.

A(i) K(i) I(i)

R 1t (i) w1 w2 w3 (7.1)
P(i) P(i) P(i)

A(i) K(i) I(i)

R 2t (i) w1 w2 w3 (7.2)
AR(i) AR(i) AR(i)

A(i) K(i) I(i)

R 3t (i) w1 w2 w3 (7.3)
RL(i) RL(i) RL(i)

A(i) K(i) I(i)

R 4t (i) w1 w2 w3 (7.4)
V(i) V(i) V(i)
 178

These ratios will provide the weighted average values of accidents

taking into account the number of person killed and injured. These ratios are
based on different units. For example, population is measured in numbers,
area in square kilometers, length in kilometers and motor vehicles in numbers.
Therefore, before making the inter-district comparison these ratios are to be made
unit free. It has been done by computing NS ikt values as described below:

i R ikt
NS kt 100 (7.5)
Rk

where ‘k’ varies from 1 to 4, ‘i’ varies from 1 to 29 and ‘t’ varies from 1997
to 2008 and R k represents the average value for all regions for the kth ratio for
ith year.

Finally, the accident severity index (ASI) is computed as the

i
weighted mean of NSkt values.

4
Wk NSikt
k 1
ASI 4 (7.6)
Wk
k 1

where wk is the weight assigned to the kth indicator.

7.4 RANKING OF DISTRICTS BY ASI

The analysis in the preceding section reveals the trend of growth of

accidents based on growth of vehicles. But this scenario may not be the same
if other factors like population, area and surfaced road lengths are considered.
So there is a need to develop an index based on these factors. For this purpose
four accident ratios are defined viz.
 179

a) Population based ratio

b) Vehicle based ratio

c) Surfaced road length based ratio

d) Area based ratio

A careful analysis of the above four ratios shows that relative

positions of districts are not the same for all the four ratios (Tables 7.3 to 7.6).
A district may have comparatively lower value in one ratio and higher value
in respect of some other ratio. The above such variations are analysed in the
following paragraphs.

7.4.1 Population Based Ratio

A large population base may generate more demand for

transportation, resulting in more number of vehicles plying on the
road network as well as higher frequency of accidents. Therefore accident
ratio with reference to population can provide an idea about the prevailing
accident risk in the districts. Table 7.3 shows Chennai has the maximum value
of 160.9797 and the Nilgiris has the lowest value of 34.1867 for the base year
2008. The average value for all the 29 districts is 82.5743. Districts like
Cuddalore, Coimbatore, Karur and Namakal show abnormally high ratios.

To compute ARI, the above ratio has to be assigned some weights

using four sets of weights. Weighted accident ratio (WAR) was computed
and furnished in the last column of Table 7.3. Similar exercise was carried out
for other accident ratios and furnished in Table 7.4 to 7.6. In respect of
weighted accident ratio with reference to population basis, Chennai has the
highest value of 528.0362 and the Nilgiris the lowest value of 169.4470.
Some districts like Cuddalore and Coimbatore due to WAR can also be
observed.
 Number .of Number of Accidents
Sl. Name of the No.of Persons Population Persons Killed per Persons Injured per Weighted
Accidents Persons per lakh
]No. District Injured (lakhs) lakh Population lakh Population Accident Ratios
Killed Population
1 Chennai 7407 982 5554 46.01200 160.9797 21.3423 120.7076 528.0362
2 Cuddalore 2892 420 3668 24.20907 119.4594 17.3489 151.5135 459.8277
3 Coimbatore 4996 1333 5186 45.25154 110.4051 29.4576 114.6038 453.2442
4 Karur 1060 269 1198 9.91167 106.9446 27.1397 120.8676 443.3158
5 Namakal 1675 320 1918 15.82016 105.8776 20.2274 121.2377 413.9023
6 Thanjavur 2437 424 2761 23.47543 103.8107 18.0614 117.6123 397.4794
7 Erode 2690 724 3419 27.34569 98.3702 26.4758 125.0288 427.6725
8 Salem 3078 582 3372 31.95199 96.3320 18.2148 105.5333 371.0567
9 Villupuram 3013 799 3952 31.35907 96.0807 25.4791 126.0241 420.1017
10 Kancheepuram 2927 866 3574 30.48086 96.0275 28.4113 117.2539 422.9539
11 Thoothukkudi 1491 288 1857 16.65500 89.5227 17.2921 111.4980 359.7118
12 Madurai 2357 534 2548 27.31074 86.3030 19.5527 93.2966 344.1137
13 Nagapattinam 1351 178 1493 15.77119 85.6625 11.2864 94.6663 311.1370
14 Dindigul 1729 418 2309 20.37038 84.8781 20.5200 113.3509 365.1871
15 Theni 969 197 1543 11.58815 83.6199 17.0001 133.1533 368.3936
16 Vellore 3071 580 3501 36.83503 83.3717 15.7459 95.0454 324.7724
17 Tiruchirappalli 1943 492 2661 25.61762 75.8462 19.2055 103.8738 332.3884
18 Pudukkottai 1157 258 1218 15.46147 74.8312 16.6866 78.7765 295.1854
19 Tirunelveli 2035 420 2589 28.85506 70.5249 14.5555 89.7243 288.9961
20 Kanniyakumari 1225 234 1525 17.75414 68.9980 13.1800 85.8955 276.6115
21 Thiruvarur 846 120 963 12.38818 68.2909 9.6867 77.7354 253.0638
22 Thiruvannamalai 1561 330 2273 23.15750 67.4080 14.2502 98.1539 289.9709
23 Perambalur 793 204 1469 12.59682 62.9524 16.1946 116.6167 307.2998
24 Sivagangai 746 191 1052 12.23862 60.9546 15.6063 85.9574 270.2919
25 Ramanathapuram 714 183 933 12.58023 56.7557 14.5466 74.1640 245.8620
26 Virudhunagar 1011 253 1366 18.55144 54.4971 13.6378 73.6331 237.1784
27 Dharmapuri 1498 284 1763 30.25663 49.5098 9.3864 58.2682 194.8333
28 Thiruvallur 1233 311 1508 29.18098 42.2536 10.6576 51.6775 178.8151
29 The Nilgiris 276 71 532 8.07332 34.1867 8.7944 65.8961 169.4470
Mean 82.5743 17.5843 100.7505 336.2362
180
 181

7.4.2 Area Based Ratio

The area of a district is almost a constant and larger the area

greater will be trip length performed by the vehicle operators. Consequently
accidents may be more. Table 7.4 shows Chennai at the top place with
4256.8966 accidents per 100 sq. km area, Cuddalore with 78.0356 and
Kannyakumari with 72.7435. The Nilgiris has the least value of 10.8278.
When WAR was tabulated, Chennai (13963.2184) retains the top position
followed by Cuddalore and Kancheepuram, the Nilgiris occupies the last
place (53.6681).

7.4.3 Surfaced Road Length Based Ratio

Well maintained surfaced road will lead to prosperity in economy.

An increase of such good road net work will result in increased travel
demand causing more accidents. Network and thereby accidents may be high.
In this section an attempt has been made to find out the effect of surfaced road
length on accidents. Table 7.5 indicates the accident ratio based on surfaced
road length for all the districts. Chennai has the maximum value (11979.2341)
accidents per1000 km road length) Madurai and Cuddalore occupying the
next two places the Nilgiris have the least value. WAR also put Chennai at
top place (39293.5697) with the Nilgiris at the bottom place. Madurai and
Cuddalore occupy the 2nd and 3rd place.
 Number of Number of
Sl. Name of the Number of Persons Accidents /100 Persons Killed Persons Injured Weighted
Accidents Persons Area (100sq.km)
No. District Injured sq.km 100 sq.km per 100 sq.km Accident Ratios
Killed
1 Chennai 7407 982 5554 1.740 4256.8966 564.3678 3191.9540 13963.2184
2 Cuddalore 2892 420 3668 37.060 78.0356 11.3330 98.9746 300.3778
3 Kanniyakumari 1225 234 1525 16.840 72.7435 13.8955 90.5582 291.6271
4 Thanjavur 2437 424 2761 34.760 70.1093 12.1979 79.4304 268.4407
5 Kancheepuram 2927 866 3574 43.070 67.9591 20.1068 82.9812 299.3267
6 Coimbatore 4996 1333 5186 74.690 66.8898 17.8471 69.4337 274.6017
7 Madurai 2357 534 2548 36.960 63.7716 14.4481 68.9394 254.2749
8 Salem 3078 582 3372 52.450 58.6845 11.0963 64.2898 226.0439
9 Nagapattinam 1351 178 1493 24.170 55.8957 7.3645 61.7708 203.0203
10 Vellore 3071 580 3501 60.770 50.5348 9.5442 57.6107 196.8570
11 Namakal 1675 320 1918 34.040 49.2068 9.4007 56.3455 192.3619
12 Tiruchirappalli 1943 492 2661 45.110 43.0725 10.9067 58.9891 188.7608
13 Villupuram 3013 799 3952 71.900 41.9054 11.1127 54.9652 183.2267
14 Karur 1060 269 1198 29.010 36.5391 9.2727 41.2961 151.4650
15 Thiruvarur 846 120 963 23.770 35.5911 5.0484 40.5133 131.8889
16 Thiruvallur 1233 311 1508 35.500 34.7324 8.7606 42.4789 146.9859
17 Theni 969 197 1543 28.690 33.7748 6.8665 53.7818 148.7975
18 Erode 2690 724 3419 82.090 32.7689 8.8196 41.6494 142.4656
19 Thoothukkudi 1491 288 1857 46.210 32.2657 6.2324 40.1861 129.6473
20 Tirunelveli 2035 420 2589 68.100 29.8825 6.1674 38.0176 122.4523
21 Dindigul 1729 418 2309 60.580 28.5408 6.9000 38.1149 122.7963
22 Thiruvannamalai 1561 330 2273 61.900 25.2181 5.3312 36.7205 108.4814
23 Pudukkottai 1157 258 1218 46.510 24.8764 5.5472 26.1879 98.1294
24 Virudhunagar 1011 253 1366 42.830 23.6049 5.9071 31.8935 102.7317
25 Perambalur 793 204 1469 36.940 21.4672 5.5225 39.7672 104.7916
26 Sivagangai 746 191 1052 41.430 18.0063 4.6102 25.3922 79.8455
27 Ramanathapuram 714 183 933 41.750 17.1018 4.3832 22.3473 74.0838
28 Dharmapuri 1498 284 1763 96.220 15.5685 2.9516 18.3226 61.2658
29 The Nilgiris 276 71 532 25.490 10.8278 2.7854 20.8709 53.6681
Mean 186.0852 27.8871 158.4063 642.1253
182
 Number of Number of Number of Total Surfaced Number of Persons Number of Persons
Name of the Number of Accident Weighted
Sl.No Accidents Persons Persons Road Length Killed 1000 km Injured per 1000 km
District /1000 km Road Length Accident Ratios
Killed Injured (km) Road Length Road Length
1 Chennai 7407 982 5554 0.6183 11979.2341 1588.1744 8982.4039 39293.5697
2 Madurai 2357 534 2548 4.8341 487.5733 110.4642 527.0839 1944.0873
3 Cuddalore 2892 420 3668 6.7222 430.2149 62.4793 545.6529 1656.0001
4 Kancheepuram 2927 866 3574 6.9980 418.2596 123.7488 510.7140 1842.2285
5 Coimbatore 4996 1333 5186 13.3331 374.7072 99.9769 388.9574 1538.2795
6 Theni 969 197 1543 2.6663 363.4222 73.8846 578.7002 1601.0831
7 Villupuram 3013 799 3952 8.2965 363.1652 96.3057 476.3455 1587.8987
8 Vellore 3071 580 3501 8.5196 360.4643 68.0786 410.9364 1404.1793
9 Salem 3078 582 3372 9.3348 329.7329 62.3472 361.2278 1270.0822
10 Thanjavur 2437 424 2761 7.6039 320.4944 55.7610 363.1043 1227.1373
11 Dharmapuri 1498 284 1763 5.1058 293.3908 55.6228 345.2924 1154.5652
12 Thoothukkudi 1491 288 1857 5.2455 284.2432 54.9041 354.0172 1142.1201
13 Tiruchirappalli 1943 492 2661 7.5047 258.9046 65.5590 354.5780 1134.6231
14 Dindigul 1729 418 2309 6.8661 251.8162 60.8786 336.2890 1083.4359
15 Namakal 1675 320 1918 6.7619 247.7113 47.3239 283.6479 968.3663
16 Nagapattinam 1351 178 1493 5.4668 247.1285 32.5602 273.1035 897.6014
17 Tirunelveli 2035 420 2589 8.4889 239.7235 49.4761 304.9848 982.3362
18 Kanniyakumari 1225 234 1525 5.4375 225.2884 43.0347 280.4610 903.1764
19 Thiruvannamalai 1561 330 2273 7.1624 217.9439 46.0740 317.3521 937.5360
20 Virudhunagar 1011 253 1366 4.7754 211.7089 52.9796 286.0479 921.3842
21 Erode 2690 724 3419 12.9376 207.9206 55.9608 264.2679 903.9523
22 Thiruvallur 1233 311 1508 6.4830 190.1891 47.9715 232.6076 804.8717
23 Karur 1060 269 1198 5.6113 188.9039 47.9388 213.4970 783.0600
24 Perambalur 793 204 1469 4.5824 173.0531 44.5181 320.5737 844.7522
25 Pudukkottai 1157 258 1218 6.8234 169.5625 37.8108 178.5023 668.8706
26 Thiruvarur 846 120 963 5.0467 167.6338 23.7778 190.8172 621.1960
27 Ramanathapuram 714 183 933 5.2587 135.7749 34.7994 177.4201 588.1676
28 Sivagangai 746 191 1052 5.5859 133.5497 34.1930 188.3301 592.2016
29 The Nilgiris 276 71 532 2.8947 95.3483 24.5280 183.7873 472.5960
Mean 667.8298 110.3839 628.6449 2405.8399
183
 184

7.4.4 Vehicle Based Ratio

Vehicle population plays a key role in road accidents. More number

of vehicles may cause more accidents with inadequate road net work. The
accident ratio based on vehicle ratio may have some effect on the risk factors.
Table 7.6 shows Villuppuram occupying the top position (18.1987 accident
per thousand vehicles) followed by Thanjavur, Thiruvarur and Nagapattinam.
Thiruvallur occupies the last place (2.9195 per thousand vehicles).
With reference to Weighted Accident Ratio (WAR) values, Villuppuram
(79.5719 accidents / 1000 vehicles) retains its top position followed by
Perambalur, Thanjavur and Thiruvarur. Chennai occupies the last place
(10.2646 / 1000 vehicles).

This weighted accident ratios are calculated using the weightage of

number of accidents, number of persons killed and number of persons injured
(Srinivasan et al 1975, Kadyali et al 1983, Partheeban et al 2008 and Singh et
al 2000). Analysis of the four accident ratios without and with weightages
show that Chennai retains the first place in three ratios except in vehicle based
ratio. This shows that factors contribute additively towards Chennai.
Cuddalore and Coimbatore face similar situations. As before, the Nilgiris has
the least value among three ratios except vehicle based ratios.
 Number .of Number of Number of Number of Persons Killed
Name of the Accidents per Persons Injured Weighted
Sl.No. Accidents Persons Persons Vehicles in per 1000
District 1000 Vehicles per 1000 Vehicles Accident Ratios
Killed Injured Thousands Vehicles
1 Villupuram 3013 799 3952 165.561 18.1987 4.8260 23.8704 79.5719
2 Thanjavur 2437 424 2761 211.129 11.5427 2.0083 13.0773 44.1957
3 Thiruvarur 846 120 963 73.443 11.5191 1.6339 13.1122 42.6862
4 Nagapattinam 1351 178 1493 119.636 11.2926 1.4878 12.4795 41.0161
5 Cuddalore 2892 420 3668 270.993 10.6719 1.5499 13.5354 41.0786
6 Perambalur 793 204 1469 80.62 9.8363 2.5304 18.2213 48.0154
7 Theni 969 197 1543 104.767 9.2491 1.8804 14.7279 40.7476
8 Dindigul 1729 418 2309 200.715 8.6142 2.0826 11.5039 37.0625
9 Ramanathapuram 714 183 933 86.426 8.2614 2.1174 10.7954 35.7878
10 Thiruvannamalai 1561 330 2273 189.927 8.2189 1.7375 11.9678 35.3557
11 Thoothukkudi 1491 288 1857 185.748 8.0270 1.5505 9.9974 32.2534
12 Vellore 3071 580 3501 389.964 7.8751 1.4873 8.9778 30.6772
13 Pudukkottai 1157 258 1218 152.989 7.5626 1.6864 7.9614 29.8322
14 Kanniyakumari 1225 234 1525 181.424 6.7521 1.2898 8.4057 27.0692
15 Tirunelveli 2035 420 2589 311.964 6.5232 1.3463 8.2990 26.7306
16 Dharmapuri 1498 284 1763 240.58 6.2266 1.1805 7.3281 24.5033
17 Karur 1060 269 1198 172.175 6.1565 1.5624 6.9580 25.5205
18 The Nilgiris 276 71 532 47.303 5.8347 1.5010 11.2466 28.9199
19 Sivagangai 746 191 1052 136.54 5.4636 1.3989 7.7047 24.2273
20 Salem 3078 582 3372 564.184 5.4557 1.0316 5.9768 21.0144
21 Erode 2690 724 3419 497.439 5.4077 1.4555 6.8732 23.5104
22 Madurai 2357 534 2548 456.43 5.1640 1.1699 5.5825 20.5902
23 Tiruchirappalli 1943 492 2661 410.424 4.7341 1.1988 6.4835 20.7468
24 Kancheepuram 2927 866 3574 682.036 4.5071 1.2697 5.2402 19.3333
25 Virudhunagar 1011 253 1366 227.252 4.4488 1.1133 6.0109 19.3618
26 Namakal 1675 320 1918 381.212 4.3939 0.8394 5.0313 17.1768
27 Coimbatore 4996 1333 5186 1571.904 3.1783 0.8480 3.2992 13.0479
28 Chennai 7407 982 5554 2366.974 3.1293 0.4149 2.3465 10.2646
29 Thiruvallur 1233 311 1508 422.338 2.9195 0.7364 3.5706 12.3550
Mean 7.2815 1.5495 9.3305 30.0915
185
 186

7.4.5 Computation of ASI

The accident and other related data pertaining to 29 districts for the
period from 1997 to 2008 have to be used for computing ASI. After making
the four accident ratios unit free, the weights given in Table 7.7 were assigned
to them, and thereafter ASI values were computed. Table 7.8 provides the
computed values of NSikt for all the four ratios. However for illustration
purposes, computation of ASI taking the data pertaining to 2008 was done in
Table 7.9. The weight assigned to the four accident ratios is furnished in
Table 7.7.

Table 7.7 Weights Assigned to Accident Ratios

Accident Ratio Weights

Accidents per lakh population 40
Accidents per 1000 square km 30
Accidents per 1000 vehicles 20
Accidents per 1000 km road length 10
Total 100
(Source: Chand and Alex 2007)

In Table 7.9 the highest value of ASI is for Chennai (885.3248)

followed by Villupruam (118.0242) and Cuddaloe (102.9223). Thiruvallur
occupies the last place of 29 in ASI ranking list. It means that road safety
improvement measures would yield better results in most accident prone
districts like Chennai, Villupuram, Cuddalore, Thanjavur and Kancheepuram.
 187

Table 7.8 Calculated Values of NSikt for all the Four Ratios
NSikt = ( R kti / R k ) *100

WS1 WS2 WS3 WS4

Sl. Name of the
R1t(i) R2t(i) R3t(i) R4t(i)
No. District
1 Chennai 157.0432 2174.5317 1633.2578 34.1113
2 Coimbatore 134.7994 42.7645 63.9394 43.3607
3 Cuddalore 136.7573 46.7787 68.8325 136.5123
4 Dharmapuri 57.9454 9.5411 47.9901 81.4294
5 Dindigul 108.6103 19.1234 45.0336 123.1662
6 Erode 127.1941 22.1866 37.5733 78.1299
7 Kancheepuram 125.7907 46.6150 76.5732 64.2484
8 Kanniyakumari 82.2670 45.4159 37.5410 89.9564
9 Karur 131.8465 23.5881 32.5483 84.8099
10 Madurai 102.3429 39.5990 80.8070 68.4255
11 Nagapattinam 92.5352 31.6169 37.3093 136.3047
12 Namakal 123.0987 29.9571 40.2507 57.0820
13 Perambalur 91.3940 16.3195 35.1126 159.5648
14 Pudukkottai 87.7911 15.2820 27.8020 99.1385
15 Ramanathapuram 73.1218 11.5373 24.4475 118.9302
16 Salem 110.3560 35.2025 52.7916 69.8352
17 Sivagangai 80.3875 12.4346 24.6152 80.5123
18 Thanjavur 118.2143 41.8050 51.0066 146.8713
19 The Nilgiris 50.3952 8.3579 19.6437 96.1068
20 Theni 109.5639 23.1727 66.5499 135.4124
21 Thiruvallur 53.1814 22.8905 33.4549 41.0583
22 Thiruvannamalai 86.2402 16.8941 38.9692 117.4941
23 Thiruvarur 75.2637 20.5394 25.8203 141.8547
24 Thoothukkudi 106.9819 20.1903 47.4728 107.1845
25 Tiruchirappalli 98.8556 29.3963 47.1612 68.9459
26 Tirunelveli 85.9503 19.0698 40.8313 88.8313
27 Vellore 96.5905 30.6571 58.3655 101.9465
28 Villupuram 124.9425 28.5344 66.0018 264.4334
29 Virudhunagar 70.5392 15.9987 38.2978 64.3431
 188

Table 7.9 District Wise Accident Severity index

Name of the Districts ASI Rank

Chennai 885.3248 1
Villupuram 118.0242 2
Cuddalore 102.9223 3
Thanjavur 94.3022 4
Kancheepuram 84.8078 5
Theni 84.5148 6
Coimbatore 81.8152 7
Karur 80.0319 8
Dindigul 78.3177 9
Nagapattinam 77.4910 10
Erode 76.9169 11
Perambalur 76.8777 12
Thoothukkudi 75.0340 13
Madurai 74.5826 14
Vellore 74.0592 15
Salem 73.9493 16
Namakal 73.6680 17
Kanniyakumari 68.2770 18
Thiruvarur 67.2203 19
Thiruvannamalai 66.9601 20
Tiruchirappalli 66.8664 21
Pudukkottai 62.3089 22
Tirunelveli 61.9505 23
Ramanathapuram 58.9407 24
Sivagangai 54.4494 25
Virudhunagar 49.7137 26
Dharmapuri 47.1254 27
The Nilgiris 43.8512 28
Thiruvallur 39.6969 29

Figure 7.1 shows the plot of ASI value for different districts in
Tamilnadu for the year 2008. The low value of ASI is basically due to low
density of population and low level of motorization. Though road safety measures
need to be implemented in all the districts of Tamilnadu, priority should be
given to Chennai, Villupuram, Cuddalore, Thanjavur and Kancheepuram. A
graphical illustration of computed ASI values for 29 districts is shown in
Figure 7.1. A graph of percentage bar diagram for ASI from 1997 to 2008 is
shown in Figure 7.2. A similar study in respect of all the states in India was
conducted (Chand and Alex 2007) where in data for the period from 1980 to
2001 were analysed.
 Accident Severity Index(ASI)
VILLUPURAM
CUDDALORE
THANJAVUR
KANCHEEPURAM
THENI
COIMBATORE
KARUR
DINDIGUL
NAGAPATTINAM
ERODE
PERAMBALUR
THOOTHUKKUDI
MADURAI
VELLORE
SALEM
NAMAKAL
KANNIYAKUMARI
THIRUVARUR
THIRUVANNAMALAI
TIRUCHIRAPPALLI
PUDUKKOTTAI
TIRUNELVELI
RAMANATHAPURAM
SIVAGANGAI
VIRUDHUNAGAR
DHARMAPURI
THE NILGIRIS
THIRUVALLUR
189
 % OF ASI
1997
1998
1999
ARI

2000
2001
ARI

2002
2003
ARI

2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
190
 191

In Chand and Alex (2007), 21 year’s data from 1980 to 2001 have
been considered. In the above mentioned paper only one pair of data (2000 –
2001) is taken for calculating ARI and ASI based on accident, population,
area, road length and registered vehicles. The ASI in 2001 concludes

Northeastern states have quite low value of ASI, basically due

to low density of population and low level of motorization.

Though road safety measures need to be implemented in all

states of India, priority should be given to Kerala, Goa and
Tamilnadu.

In this chapter, ASI is calculated only from 1997 to 2008.

Corresponding values and ranks are displayed in the Tables 7.10 and 7.11 for
the various districts of Tamilnadu in India. In respect of ASI ranking list,
Tamilnadu occupies the third place in the year 2001 (Srinivasan and Chand
1984). The above findings indicate that Tamilnadu should be given top
priority to implement road safety measures. The rank correlations of ASI
between two consecutive years from 1997 to 2008 are always more than 0.81.
Considering 1997 as the base year, ASI of the years from 1998 to 2008 are
also positively correlated with the year 1997 and the rank correlation is
always more than 0.61.

7.4.6 Comparison of ASI

Table 7.12 provides the comparative ASI value for 1997 and 2008.
The results show that Chennai tops the rank list in both the years meaning that
Chennai has high accident severity compared to others. The ASI values of
Chennai are 4 to 7 times higher than the next higher value in 1997 and 2008.
 ASI
Sl.No. Name of Districts
1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
1 Chennai 805.8693 779.8805 752.5908 749.2931 800.054 765.4068 926.5445 824.7680 792.5063 919.5340 934.1200
2 Coimbatore 87.9291 88.6602 96.8367 93.8753 84.2309 89.4003 75.3525 92.3056 87.3845 74.4801 77.0705
3 Cuddalore 86.2093 110.3883 127.4614 106.8063 115.737 110.8665 104.5508 109.0002 112.5064 102.1074 98.4998
4 Dharmapuri 69.7485 64.9244 59.7797 62.7231 65.6064 72.0299 69.5304 48.3173 44.4511 35.8894 41.5094
5 Dindigul 91.0346 77.9941 89.9974 86.4207 98.4235 88.0077 81.8407 94.1547 75.9196 89.3065 79.5361
6 Erode 73.1429 78.4929 83.2350 90.3805 99.5813 88.3792 75.6047 74.2089 79.3417 71.6675 70.8041
7 Kancheepuram 62.4497 77.9834 74.5749 68.8724 70.7102 75.5400 77.7437 80.4993 64.6273 76.7707 86.2153
8 Kanniyakumari 40.8386 59.8072 50.8761 55.2053 62.4004 62.2168 63.6442 68.4194 67.3731 61.3157 67.2061
9 Karur 57.4858 69.0209 68.7528 71.7052 89.4555 93.7723 78.5689 78.1785 92.5325 94.1719 78.6746
10 Madurai 83.2155 99.5529 100.7558 104.8327 105.067 125.0687 87.4678 94.2036 94.7118 76.4455 74.0316
11 Nagapattinam 66.0210 67.7725 73.1219 70.2483 79.8679 69.7969 69.4591 74.8015 93.0135 77.5788 83.4490
12 Namakal 101.8474 69.8537 75.1589 85.7800 84.585 88.3802 63.6047 69.7933 80.4268 69.5876 75.9530
13 Perambalur 198.9051 130.2909 104.8106 96.2303 113.313 74.6230 70.1149 78.1518 88.6854 83.3657 85.9582
14 Pudukkottai 62.0760 71.7608 65.4710 60.1391 72.5042 60.8960 61.0183 68.2601 65.0206 72.1828 70.6420
15 Ramanathapuram 44.9687 55.9415 46.9287 51.8512 49.2842 51.7437 52.1750 54.0346 59.5606 51.5527 57.3429
16 Salem 62.7528 72.8140 57.8997 74.0335 70.3142 73.9488 60.5411 68.9434 71.2439 66.0762 62.3229
17 Sivagangai 54.9636 66.7480 82.8710 67.1231 74.5506 61.7228 62.6648 57.0086 50.1505 49.0418 48.0010
18 Thanjavur 85.7628 89.7528 88.0614 92.4700 100.61 94.3731 91.0889 99.0939 113.7544 99.4068 96.4667
19 The Nilgiris 49.2863 47.0542 41.9814 45.4158 61.1762 41.5459 42.4396 38.1388 45.8924 36.9774 34.0548
20 Theni 67.5723 59.1316 89.5814 70.9769 84.9688 79.4005 72.2843 86.1437 89.0471 95.8718 81.5129
21 Thiruvallur 26.4350 35.2630 38.7412 42.3114 40.38 37.6112 40.6986 46.0737 47.6792 44.8727 41.5422
22 Thiruvannamalai 40.9820 52.3959 57.9519 53.4254 60.8079 62.3680 55.9389 62.7228 55.8353 55.2503 53.6395
23 Thiruvarur 175.1686 110.3048 81.2939 99.9479 112.93 71.0691 78.6887 78.3734 82.8299 81.3972 76.4401
24 Thoothukkudi 63.1250 61.7186 75.7240 74.2996 79.9616 70.7114 65.2457 69.0185 67.1548 66.3200 72.3453
25 Tiruchirappalli 71.0119 95.7562 85.6977 87.2696 85.4986 83.5974 78.8132 79.4901 75.4762 71.0644 70.7364
26 Tirunelveli 45.0870 52.5652 60.1749 63.1088 73.6306 50.9885 57.3574 56.3239 54.5728 54.9992 61.0463
27 Vellore 69.3256 75.1318 71.7827 71.7033 61.1074 67.1574 60.8656 63.2349 67.4958 64.3738 59.3756
28 Villupuram 106.5052 122.8207 129.0230 138.2434 148.592 131.2343 120.6021 123.4361 119.0690 107.9826 107.9512
29 Virudhunagar 50.2805 56.2189 68.8641 65.3080 64.7206 58.1436 55.5507 62.9013 61.7375 50.4095 53.5526
192
 ASI Ranks
Sl.No Name of Districts
1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
1 Chennai 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
2 Coimbatore 7 9 6 7 14 7 12 7 10 13 11 7
3 Cuddalore 8 4 3 3 3 4 3 3 4 3 3 3
4 Dharmapuri 13 20 23 23 22 16 15 27 29 29 28 27
5 Dindigul 6 11 7 11 9 10 6 6 14 7 9 9
6 Erode 11 10 11 9 8 9 11 15 13 15 16 11
7 Kancheepuram 19 12 16 19 20 13 10 9 21 11 5 5
8 Kanniyakumari 28 22 26 25 24 22 18 19 18 21 19 18
9 Karur 21 17 20 15 10 6 9 12 7 6 10 8
10 Madurai 10 6 5 4 6 3 5 5 5 12 14 14
11 Nagapattinam 16 18 17 18 16 19 16 14 6 10 7 10
12 Namakal 5 16 15 12 13 8 19 16 12 17 13 17
13 Perambalur 2 2 4 6 4 14 14 13 9 8 6 12
14 Pudukkottai 20 15 21 24 19 24 21 20 20 14 18 22
15 Ramanathapuram 26 25 27 27 28 26 27 26 23 24 23 24
16 Salem 18 14 25 14 21 15 23 18 16 19 20 16
17 Sivagangai 22 19 12 20 17 23 20 24 26 26 26 25
18 Thanjavur 9 8 9 8 7 5 4 4 3 4 4 4
19 The Nilgiris 24 28 28 28 25 28 28 29 28 28 29 28
20 Theni 15 23 8 17 12 12 13 8 8 5 8 6
21 Thiruvallur 29 29 29 29 29 29 29 28 27 27 27 29
22 Thiruvannamalai 27 27 24 26 27 21 25 23 24 22 24 20
23 Thiruvarur 3 5 13 5 5 17 8 11 11 9 12 19
24 Thoothukkudi 17 21 14 13 15 18 17 17 19 18 15 13
25 Tiruchirappalli 12 7 10 10 11 11 7 10 15 16 17 21
26 Tirunelveli 25 26 22 22 18 27 24 25 25 23 21 23
27 Vellore 14 13 18 16 26 20 22 21 17 20 22 15
28 Villupuram 4 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
29 Virudhunagar 23 24 19 21 23 25 26 22 22 25 25 26
Rank Correlation 0.87 0.82 0.90 0.92 0.82 0.89 0.92 0.90 0.91 0.96 0.93
0.84 0.90 0.84 0.78 0.77 0.75 0.73 0.70 0.70 0.62
193
 194

Table 7.12 Comparative Picture of ASI Values in 1997 and 2008

1997 2008
Name of Districts ASI Rank ASI Rank
Chennai 805.8693 1 885.3248 1
Coimbatore 87.9291 7 81.8152 7
Cuddalore 86.2093 8 102.9223 3
Dharmapuri 69.7485 13 47.1254 27
Dindigul 91.0346 6 78.3177 9
Erode 73.1429 11 76.9169 11
Kancheepuram 62.4497 19 84.8078 5
Kanniyakumari 40.8386 28 68.2770 18
Karur 57.4858 21 80.0319 8
Madurai 83.2155 10 74.5826 14
Nagapattinam 66.0210 16 77.4910 10
Namakal 101.8474 5 73.6680 17
Perambalur 198.9051 2 76.8777 12
Pudukkottai 62.0760 20 62.3089 22
Ramanathapuram 44.9687 26 58.9407 24
Salem 62.7528 18 73.9493 16
Sivagangai 54.9636 22 54.4494 25
Thanjavur 85.7628 9 94.3022 4
The Nilgiris 49.2863 24 43.8512 28
Theni 67.5723 15 84.5148 6
Thiruvallur 26.4350 29 39.6969 29
Thiruvannamalai 40.9820 27 66.9601 20
Thiruvarur 175.1686 3 67.2203 19
Thoothukkudi 63.1250 17 75.0340 13
Tiruchirappalli 71.0119 12 66.8664 21
Tirunelveli 45.0870 25 61.9505 23
Vellore 69.3256 14 74.0592 15
Villupuram 106.5052 4 118.0242 2
Virudhunagar 50.2805 23 49.7137 26
Correlation 0.6172414
 195

The results also indicate that though all districts are badly in need of road
safety measures, priority should be given to Chennai, Villupuram, Cuddalore,
Thanjavur and Kancheepuram. It is also found that districts like Coimbatore,
Dharumapuri, Dindigul, Madurai, Namakal, Perambalur, the Nilgiris,
Thiruvarur, Tiruchirappalli and Virudhunagar have improved their safety
ranking. The computed value of rank correlation between 1997and 2008 is
0.62 which is found to be statistically different from zero at five percent level
of significance.

7.4.7 Correlation of ASI

Correlation analysis is a method commonly used to establish, with

certain degree of probability, whether a linear relationship exists between two
measured quantities. This means that when there is correlation it implies that
there is a tendency for the values of the two quantities to affect each other.
Vice-versa also holds true if there is no correlation which implies no effect on
each other. Furthermore, using the values of the correlation coefficient, a
positive or negative relationship can also be identified. If the coefficient
values are close to 1, it implies positive linear relationship, whilst values close
to 0 imply no linear relationship. Thus, based on the values of the correlation
coefficient, the relationship between two measured quantities can be
determined (Habibullah et al 2010). Here the values of the rank correlation
coefficient are more than 0.81. A correlation coefficient of around 0.9
indicates that the two variables are fairly highly associated. If r is squared, the
coefficient of determination is r2, which tells us how much of the variance in
Y is explained by X. In this case, r2 = 0.81, which means that 81% of the
variance is explained by X, while the remainder is due to error. The only thing
to do is to find out if the correlation is statistically significant.
 196

7.5 SUMMARY

Accident risk is found to differ with population, area, road length

and number of vehicles in any district. Therefore four types of accident ratios
were computed based on population, area, surfaced road length and number of
vehicles. Districts having low value of ASI are basically due to low density of
population and low level of motorization that is lower variation in accident risk.
Though road safety measures need to be implemented in all the districts of
Tamilnadu, priority should be given to Chennai, Villupuram, Cuddalore,
Thanjavur and Kancheepuram. These ratios show wide variation and
inconsistencies across the districts of Tamilnadu.

The Accident severity index measures the seriousness of an

accident. A careful analysis of the above four ratios shows that relative
positions of districts are not the same for all. A district may have
comparatively lower value in one ratio and higher value in respect of some
other ratio. ARI and ASI were thus computed by combining four ratios.
Regarding ARI and ASI in the year 2008, Chennai, Villupuram, Cuddalore
and Thanjavur get first four ranks respectively. From 1997 to 2008, Chennai
tops first for both ARI and ASI. Accident, population, area, registered
vehicles and road length are the common factors both in ARI and ASI. Even
though injury rate and fatality rate are considered in ASI, final ranking of both
ARI and ASI are almost similar to maximum extent for the years 1997 –
2008.

Weighted accident ratio with reference to population basis, varies

from 169.4470 (the Nilgiiris) to 528.0362 (Chennai). With reference to
number of vehicles weighted accident ratio values varies between 10.2646
(Chennai) and 79.5719 (Villupuram). Weighted accident ratio with area basis
varies between 53.6681 (the Nilgiris) to 13963.2184 (Chennai). Similarly the
surfaced road length based ratio varies between 472.5960 (the Nilgiris) and
 197

39293.5697 (Chennai). The highest value of ASI is for Chennai (885.3248)

followed by Villupruam (118.0242) and Cuddaloe (102.9223). Thiruvallur
occupies the last place of 29 in ASI ranking list. It means that road safety
improvement measures would yield better results in most accident prone
districts like Chennai, Villupuram, Cuddalore, Thanjavur and Kancheepuram.

Analysis of the four accident ratios without and with weightages

show that Chennai retains the first place in three ratios except in vehicle based
ratio. These are due to higher population, vehicles and road length of Chennai
comparing to other districts. This shows that factors contribute additively
towards Chennai. Cuddalore and Coimbatore face similar situations. As
before, the Nilgiris has the least value among three ratios except vehicle based
ratios. The ASI values of Chennai are 4 to 7 times higher than the next higher
value in 1997 and 2008. The results also indicate that though all districts are
badly in need of road safety measures, priority should be given to Chennai,
Villupuram, Cuddalore, Thanjavur and Kancheepuram. The computed value
of rank correlation between 1997and 2008 is 0.62 which is found to be
statistically different from zero at five percent level of significance.

This study has shown that despite the enormous increase in the
number of registered vehicles in Tamilnadu, fatality rate (per registered
vehicle) appears to decline. Despite the overall decreasing trend in both
fatality rates and severity, data have shown that Tamilnadu has experienced a
worsening situation in safety levels since 1997. As a result of this remarkable
growth in motorization and the road-network size, traffic accidents have
become a serious problem facing in this state. During the period from 1997 to
2008, the number of traffic accidents, injuries, and fatalities has increased by
20.2%, 56.3% and 48.7% respectively. This study shows that both fatality rate
and accident severity have increased and the necessity for improvement is
urgently needed.
 198

It is found that bigger districts like Dharmapuri fall in the category

of higher growth of vehicles as well as accidents. Similar is the case in the
districts of Erode and Villupuram. Further Chennai stands first; when vehicle
surfaced road length and area based ratios are considered. Cuddalore and
Thanjavur are among the first ten districts in all the ratios. But the Nilgiris has
the least value in all the ratios except in vehicle and road length based ratios.
In terms of ASI, Cuddalore shifted its position from 8th to 3rd, Villupuram 4th
to 2nd, Thanjavur 9th to 4th, Kancheepuram 19th to 5th and Theni 15th to 6th
between 1997 and 2008. This indicates that the accident risk in Cuddalore,
Villupuram, Thanjavur, Kancheepuram and Theni has increased considerably
during the past two decades. But Chennai remains at the top compared to
others.

Accident severity in a locality is closely related to vehicle

movement rather than the population or the number of vehicles. Among the
road users involved in the accidents, over one-third are pedestrians and the
next higher proportion is of two-wheeler automobiles. Since the proportion of
pedal cycles in the mixed traffic stream is also considerable (about one-third)
in almost all roads in the state, there is a special need to provide suitable
facilities for the pedestrians and the pedal cyclists. As far as vehicle-wise
accident rates are concerned buses are the most risky. On an average, they are
causing around seventy accidents per thousand buses per annum. In general,
trucks and three wheelers are the second and third most risky vehicles,
respectively. Furthermore, the traffic police have identified the accidents
prone locations on the basis of severity and frequency of accidents.

Accidents may decrease due to relentless work done by the police

but the accident severity is bound to increase with increase in traffic speed
while roadside safety environment is still neglected. All major accidents
should be individually analysed scientifically and all details such as the
 199

original positions and approach speeds of vehicles involved in the accidents

worked out. The causes of accidents should be determined scientifically and
recorded. Data-wise accident data may be enlisted for each road similar to
facilitate statistical analysis of accidents. Different coloured tally marks may
be used to differentiate various classes of accidents. It means that road safety
improvement measures would yield better results in most accident prone
districts.