SPATIAL ANALYSIS ON CAUSES OF FATAL ROAD ACCIDENTS IN BLACK SPOT AREA: A CASE STUDY IN THE NORTHEAST DISTRICT OF PENANG, MALAYSIA

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to analyze the spatial pattern and the main
cause of fatal road accidents in the black spot area. This study used fatal road
accident data in the Northeast District of Penang, Malaysia for the years 2011 and
2012. By applying Geographic Information System (GIS), Kernel Density Estimation (KDE)

analysis was used to identify the black spot area of fatal road
accidents. The total number of fatal road accidents in 2011 and 2012 was 90 and
88 respectively. The analysis shows that the highest fatal road accidents, which
were 55 cases, were caused by skidding vehicles while the nethermost cause was
the impinged side of the vehicles, mechanical, reversal and U laps, respectively
with only 1 case for each factor. The major causes of fatal road accidents at the
black spot area were due to the skidding vehicle, driver changing route, grazed
vehicle, road users crossing roads and drivers using opposite routes. From the
analysis, this study shows that each black spot area had different causes for the
fatal road accident. Even though human attitude or drivers' behavior has been
accepted as the main cause of fatal road accidents, however, there are also a few
other causals for black spot area of fatal road accidents causal such as road
physical factors, population density factors, economic and social activity factors.
This is because the human attitude or behavior would be influenced by these
causes which then stimulate the good or bad conduct of a driver. Therefore, the
monitoring and prevention conducted to reduce the rate of fatal road accidents
should take into account and stress more on the cause of the accident.