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Applying Public Participation Approach To Black SP
Applying Public Participation Approach To Black SP
Applying Public Participation Approach To Black SP
CHADBUNCHACHAI
WitayaCHADBUNCHACHAI
M.D.,KhonKaenRegionalHospital
KhonKaen,Thailand
(ReceivedOctober6,2005)
Ablackspottreatmentprogramisonetypeofsafetyimprovementprogramthatcandealwithaccidentoccurrencesreactively.
However,implementationofsuchprogramrequiresrelevantaccidentdata,whicharenormallyunavailableorlimitedindeveloping
countries.Thus,thispaperproposesasupportiveapproach(publicparticipationapproach)toovercomethishindrance.Theobjective
istodemonstratehowapublicparticipationapproachcanbeusedtoassistinidentifyingblackspotlocationsthroughtheframework
ofanAccidentPublicParticipationProgram(APPP).Therealworldapplicationsofsuchaprogramarepresentedthroughaselected
casestudyinKhonKaenCity,Thailand.Bycontrastingthefindingsobtainedfromtheproposedframeworkwiththoseobtainedfrom
theclassicalapproachinthisfield,feasibility,validity,andeffectivenessoftheprogramarerevealed.Thefindingsindicatestatistically
significantagreementsbetweenthetwodatasets.Thisimpliesthatresidencecanidentifylocationswhereaccidentsoccurrencesare
unusuallyhighandtheirinputispotentiallyusefulfortheidentificationprocess.Inaddition,besidestheindirectbenefitstocreating
publicawareness,theproposedmethodologyispotentiallyusefulasameansforbothspeedingupandeconomizingtheblackspot
locationsidentificationprocess.Thepaperisuniquebecausethemeritsofseveralprofessionalsinfieldssuchassocialscience,en-
gineering,andmedicineareharmonizedtoachievesuccessinasafetyimprovementprogram.
KeyWords: Accidentdata,Blackspotlocations,Developingcountries,Publicparticipation,Thailand
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public participation approach can be used to assist in least3casualtycrashesinanyoneyear,or3casu-
identifying black spot location through the proposed altycrashesoverathreeyearperiod;4overafour
frameworkofanAccidentPublicParticipationProgram year period; 5 over a five year period, etc. For
(APPP).Therealworldapplicationsofsuchaprogram lengthsofroad,theremustbeanaverageof0.2ca-
arepresentedthroughaselectedcasestudyinKhonKaen sualtycrashesperkilometerofthelengthinquestion
City,Thailand.Bycontrastingthefindingsobtainedfrom over5years;ortheroadlengthtobetreatedmustbe
the proposed framework with those obtained from the amongst the top 10% of sites with a demonstrated
‘classicalapproach’inthisfield,feasibility,validity,and highercrashratethanotherroadsinaregion4.’
effectivenessoftheprogramcanberevealed. Thailand has yet to adopt officially a method to
This paper is organized as follows. In Section 2, identifyblackspotlocationsorevenanofficialdefinition
somesupportivereasonstoemploypublicparticipation ofblackspots.However,in1999theMinistryofTrans-
tactictoidentifyblackspotlocationincludingprevious port and Communications commissioned the SweRoad
activities to incorporate public input in safety analysis ofSwedentogetherwithlocalconsultantstocarryouta
areaddressed.Section3exhibitstheresearchapproach comprehensiveroadsafetyprojectinThailand5.Among
throughtheproposedAccidentPublicParticipationPro- variousproposedstrategies,blackspotimprovementpro-
gram (APPP). Section 4 presents the identification of gramisalsopresented.Thestudyteamdefinedablack
blackspotlocationsintheselectedstudyareathroughthe spotasalocationwheremanyaccidentshaveoccurred
‘classicalapproach’namelytheRateQualityControlAp- and/ortheriskofbeinginvolvedinanaccidentishigh,
proach.Todemonstratetherealworldapplicationofthe and the risk of being injured in an accident is high.A
proposedframeworkofAPPP,itscasestudyispresented blackspotmaybeanintersection,orasectionofroad,or
inSection5.Finally,Section6presentsthefindingsof any other location that fulfils the definition. The team
thispaper. proposedtheRateQualityControlMethodasameansto
identifytheblackspotlocationsinThailand.Thelogicof
2. LITERATURE REVIEWS thismethodisthatalocationisconsideredtobeablack
spotifitssafetyparametershowshighervaluesthanthe
2.1 Whatisablackspot? criticalvalue.Theyassuredcontrolofthequalityofthe
Ingeneral,identificationofthesitewithpotential analysisbyapplyingastatisticaltest.Therearethreedif-
safetyproblemisthefirstandimportantstepintheacci- ferentparametersproposedintheirstudy;accidentrate,
dent mitigation process. The technique to determine accidentfrequency,andaccidentseverity.
whetherasitehasasafetyproblemvariesfromplaceto However,thisresearchfocusesmainlyontheacci-
placeandisreferredtobydifferentnames.Methodolo- dent frequency approach because it provides an advan-
giesvaryfromthesimpleflagsitesthathavehigh-acci- tageintermsofpracticality.Fromtheaccidentfrequency
dentrecordstothemorecomplicatedonesofwhichthe pointofview,aroadsectionisconsideredtobeablack
expectednumberofaccidentsisestimatedandpotential spot,if:
for safety improvements is determined. However, the Aj>Acwhere Ac = Fave + k α Fave / L j − 0. 5 / L j
mostwidelyusedtechniquetodeterminewhetherasite Equation1
hasasafetyproblem,isbasedontheroadaccidenthis- Where Ac isthecriticalvalueforaccidentfrequency.
toryandthisisknownasdeterminationof‘BlackSpot Lj isthelengthoftheroadsection.
Locations’.Also,thewholeaccidentmitigationprocess Faveistheaverageaccidentfrequencyforallroad
isoftenreferredtoasBlackSpotsImprovement. sections.
Identificationofblackspotsisaproceduretolocate k� is the statistical rate factor with specified
suchspotswithintheroadnetwork.Inreviewingthelit- significancelevel(e.g.foraconfidencelevel
eratures,severalmethodsarefoundforblackspotdeter- of95percent,k�isequalto1.645).
mination that have been researched and proposed over
pastdecades.Nevertheless,forpracticalability,inmany 2.2 Whybotherwiththepublic?
countries,theblackspotdefinitionisstatedverysimply. Public Participation has long been established for
Foranexample,inAustralia,thedefinition4oftheblack laws, regulations, and guidance issued by government
spotisgivenas: agenciesinthedevelopedcountries.Thepracticeisin-
‘forindividualsitessuchasintersection,mid-block tended to increase the efficiency and productivity of
orshortroadsection,therehastobeahistoryofat transportationplansandprograms.Forablackspotim-
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APPLYINGPUBLICPARTICIPATIONAPPROACHTOBLACKSPOTIDENTIFICATIONPROCESS–ACaseStudyinThailand– W.KOWTANAPANICH,Y.TANABORIBOON,W.CHADBUNCHACHAI
provementprogram,besidessupportingforalackofac- Here the belief is that the social science together
cidentdata,thereareseveralotherdistinctadvantagesto withengineeringsciencecanworkcloselytodevelopa
involvingpublicintheidentificationprocess.Thefollow- programsuccessfully.Sinceeachhasitsmeritsandpit-
ingdiscussionoffersfoursupportivereasonswhypublic falls,meritswillbecombinedtodesignblackspotpro-
participationshouldbeemphasizedinsuchprogram. gramscomprehensively,effectively,andefficiently.
The first, and most obvious, reason is that road
safetyisamulti-disciplinaryproblemthatrequiresvari- 2.3 Some facts about public participation inThai-
ous disciplines to develop the road safety activities ef- land
fectively.Inotherwords,thedifferentexpertisesystems Toproposepublicparticipationasameansofmak-
have to be merged together to give more insight in the ingThairoadssafer,itisimportanttoreviewtheexisting
newdimensionsofsafetyproblems.Thewidelyknown publicparticipationpracticesinthecountry.InThailand,
contributingfactorsdeducetoroadaccidentinvolvehu- in spite of the fact that the government stillplacesless
manfactor,vehiclefactor,roadandenvironmentfactor. emphasisonpublicparticipationintransportationplan-
Althoughsafetyexperthasunderstandingoftheprinciple ningprocess,theprivatesectorparticularlyNGOs,onthe
ofsafetyscienceincludingthelasttwofactors,theyoften otherhand,hasalreadyimplementedvariouspublicpar-
havelimitedunderstandingonsocialcultureandhuman ticipationactivities,especiallyroadsafetyrelatedactivi-
behavior.Assuch,toensurethatthefirstandthemost ties.
importantfactorisaddressed,itisimportanttocapture Thefirstpublicinvolvementinroadsafetyexample
the feeling and assessment of the road safety situation israthertypicalasnormallypracticedinothercountries.
from the viewpoints of the road users themselves. En- Citizenssendthecomplaintlettersand/orinformingmes-
couraging public inputs can help agencies reach better sagestotheavailablemassmediachannels.Theysend
decisions, as it will help the agency to identify locally theseletterstothenewspapereditor,tothetelevisionpro-
problemsthatcanleadtoappropriatesolutions. gram,orpostamassageonweb-boardexpressingtheir
Thesecondreasontobotherwithpublicparticipa- feeling/ideatowardsanyunsafeintersection,street,loca-
tion is referred to ‘the sharing responsibility concept’. tion,etc.Exampleofsuchletterisillustratedasshownin
Underthisconcept,responsibilitiesshouldbesharedbe- Figure1.Although,substantialnumbersoftheseletters
tweenalloftheplayersinvolvedinthesystemtoreach aresenttothenewspapereditor,onlyfewarepublished
theoptimumgoal–whichistoincreasethesocialwel- andveryfewofthesepublishedlettersarerespondedby
farethroughthereductionofthenumberofsevereacci- therelatedagencies.
dents and the feeling of insecurity. When black spot
programisaccomplished,thecommunitywouldbethe (Translationversion)
targetofthesedistributedbenefits.Onthecontrary,they 1November2002
alsosuffertheconsequencesoftheinefficienciesofthe TheKlongTengvillagerwrotetousthat
program. Therefore, public as the major stakeholders, the road accidents always occur at the
shouldbareresponsibilityintheprogram. section between Susco gas station and
EssogasstationonthePatkasameRoad.
Thethirdreasontobotherwithpublicparticipation Morethantenaccidentsoccurinsome
isthattheprogramismorelikelytobeacceptedandsup- months. Deaths and property damages
portedbycommunitymembersastheymayfeelthatthey seemliketheusualevent.Localpeople
revealed that this is due to the road is
haveanactiveroleinshapingthedecision.Theydoin- four lanes highways without median,
creasetrustintheprocess. andtwogasstationsarelocatedclosely
Otherthantheacceptanceandsupportbythecom- together so there are a lot of vehicles
cominginandoutallday.Moreover,the
munity,thefourthreasoninencouragingpublicinputis verticalcurvepostedbeforethetwogas
thatitcancreatemuchawarenessandmoreconcernon stationslimitsthedriversightdistance.
Consequently, when a speeding car
roadsafetythroughoutthesociety.Incontinuation,peo- comestothisarea,theaccidentsalways
plewillregardtheirrightsandobligationsinthetraffic occur.Wearetoldthatresponsibleroad
safety.They will not only consider road accidents as a agency will install the rumble strips to
slowdownthetraffic.Nevertheless,for
problem of driver’s behavior but realize as a complex better result, the police officer should
problemthatcanbesolved.Thismaychangethetradi- takeacloselookatthis…
tionalbelieveof‘accidentisanactofGod’to‘accidentis
aproblembutcanbesolved’. Fig.1Traditionalinform/complaintletters
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In Bangkok, the capital city of Thailand, incident users to assist in identifying safety improvement needs
occurrences are broadcast live via some radio stations. fortheruralunpavedroads.Intheirstudy,resultsfrom
Actually,theseradiostationsaresetuptoreportcitytraf- surveywerevalidatedagainstthosefromthesafetyaudit
ficaroundtheclocks(24-hr.reporting).However,num- process.Thestudyfoundthattheusersafetysurveyac-
berofcallersalsocallandreportontheincidentoccurrence curatelymatchedmostofthespecificneedsidentifiedin
totheseradiostations.Mostofthesecallersaredrivers thesafetyaudit.Findingsalsoimpliedthattheusersiden-
includingtaxidrivers.Theycalledtoinformotherdrivers tified weather-related conditions that primarily affect
totrytoavoidsuchincidentoccurrenceroutesaswellas safetyandwerenotidentifiedbythesafetyauditproce-
torequestfortheemergencyservicestoassisttheacci- dure.
dent victims. This example of public involvement has Althoughthereisevidenceofaconnectionbetween
beenexistingduringthepast10yearsorso.Itisinteres- subjectivedataandobjectivedataintheafore-mentioned
ting to note that certain radio station has no advertise- research,in2004,Schneideretal.7exploredthediscrep-
ment to cover its expenditures. Such station receives anciesamongthem.Intheirwork,twodatasets,which
donations to pay for all expenditures including station wereasetofpolicecrashreportsandasetofpedestrian
rentalfees,salaries,etc.Thisreflectsthegoodpracticeof anddriverperceptionsurveys,wereusedtoidentifythe
somecitizenswhoarewillingtocontributetosociety. locationinacampusareaforsafetyimprovement.Distri-
InThailand,theNGOorcharityfoundationplaysa butions of the perceived risks and the police-reported
major role in post crash management throughout the crasheswerecomparedspatially.Findingsrevealedthat
country. There exist several foundations who volunteer thetwodistributionsarestatisticallysignificantlydiffer-
topickupcorpsescausedbyaccidentsandanyotherdi- ent,implyingthatcertainlocationsareperceivedasdan-
saster events. They operate every day in twenty-four gerous,butactualpedestriancrashhasyettooccurand
hoursbasis.Infact,oftenfoundationstaffisnormallythe viceversa.However,theyconcludedthattheperception
firstteamtoarriveatanyaccidentscene,notthepolice- datacouldbeusedtoidentifypedestrianproblemsandto
men.Theiractivityisalsoinvolvedininitialfirstaidsand helpselectlocationsforproactivesafetytreatments.
transfervictimstothenearbymedicalcares.Oftentime, The afore-mentioned studies describe different ef-
theyarealsoworkingastheEmergencyMedicalService fortstointegrateperceptiondatatoevaluateroadsafety
team. subjectively.Despitediscrepanciesamongtheirfindings,
During the recent tsunami disaster in 2004, one it can be concluded that the perception data provided
goodpracticedidoccurduringthistragiceventwhichis valuableinformationaboutpotentiallysafetyimprove-
thewayThaisarehelpingeachother.Inthedaysfollow- mentlocations.ThisideawasalsosupportedbyFitzpat-
ingthetsunami,severalvolunteerscamefromallpartsof ricketal.8whostatedthatcitizensfrequentlycouldbean
thecountrytotheeffectedareatosupportthelocalpeo- excellentmeansofidentifyingpotentiallyhazardouslo-
pleastheyrecoverfromthisterribledisaster.Allthese cations. Their subjective feeling is always very useful
mentionedactivitiesindicatethattheinterestofThaipeo- informationespeciallywhenthepreviousaccidentdatais
pleisnotlimitedtoimprovementoftheirsafetyandliv- notavailableorislimitedforasite.Therefore,thispaper
ingconditionsbutalsointhelivesofotherpeopleaswell. incorporatespublicinputintheblackspotidentification
Havingmentionedthesefacts,thereisastrongpotential process.
toinvolvethepublicinassistingtoalleviateroadsafety
problems in Thailand. Therefore, a public participation 3. ACCIDENT PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
approachtoassistinidentifyingblackspotlocationsin PROGRAM (APPP)
Thailandisproposedandadoptedforthisstudy.
Consideringneedsforblackspottreatment,prob-
2.4 Previousactivitiestoincorporatepublicinputin lemsoflackingofaccidentdata,distinctadvantagesof
safetyanalysis participationconcept,andfeasibilitytoincorporatepub-
Inreviewingtheliteratures,althoughobjectivedata licinputintosafetyanalysis,thispaperthenaimstoen-
suchaspolice-reportcrashdatahavebeenusedinseveral courageindividualroadusersandpublictoparticipatein
studies,relativelyfewresearchershaveexploredincorpo- theidentificationofblackspotlocationsthroughthede-
ration of subjective data such as public input into the velopmentoftheAccidentPublicParticipationProgram
safetyanalysisprocesses.Forexample,in1999,Caldwell (APPP).APPPaimstoprovidetheaccessibilityforthe
andWilson6usedamail-outsafetysurveyoflocalroad public/roaduserstoinform/reportthelocationswithpoor
76 IATSSRESEARCHVol.30No.1,2006
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Subjective
database Verify effectiveness of
Unsatisfied program
Satisfied
APPP implementation
Fig.2AccidentPublicParticipationProgrammethodologies
safetyperformanceaccordingtotheirfeelingandexperi- ularpublicinformedinformation.Consideringsustain-
ence.Allroaduserssuchasdriver,motorcyclist,pedes- abilityoftheprogram,thecentralcentreshouldbesetup
trian,etcareencouragedtoparticipateinthisprogram. todirectlyreceivethepublicinputs.Theaccessiblemeth-
Thefollowingsub-sectionspresenttheconceptual ods such as telephone call, WWW., and postcard/letter
frameworkofthedevelopedAPPPandalsodemonstrate shouldbeprovidedfortheroaduserstoinformanypo-
how the public participation approach can be used to tential hazard accident locations. For easily access and
assist in identifying black spot locations. The overall themostconvenient,thedirectlineusesfour-digitnum-
methodologyofAPPPisgraphicallyshowninFigure2. ber,like1666foremergencyserviceline,couldbesetup
Keyproceduresinvolvedareaddressedinthefollowing and announced to the public. The web page could be
sub-sections. constructed for the public to inform this information.
Thisproliferationofinformationtechnologyapplications
3.1 Participationprocess is creating new opportunities and new demands on the
AsshowninFigure2,thefirststepofAPPPisto publicinvolvementprocess9,10.
construct the public participation process. Since APPP While the first approach offers the advantage in
aimstoprovidetheaccessibilityforthepublic/roadusers termsofthesustainabilityoftheprogram,ithasalimita-
toinform/reporttheunsafelocation,theeffectivepartici- tionintermsoftimeliness,asitsdatacollectionrequired
pationmethodisveryimportant. alongperiodoftime.Tospeedinguptheprocess,other
Presently,thereareseveralpublicparticipationtac- publicparticipationtacticssuchastheroundtablemeet-
ticspracticedinThailand.Eachtechniquehasbothben- ing, opinion surveys, focus groups, workshops, public
efitsandlimitations.However,takingintoconsideration hearings, etc can be considered.A variety of these ap-
problemcharacteristicsandexistingimplementation,the proachesisalmostsuretobemorehelpfulthanreliance
regular public informed information continues to offer solelyononeofthesemeasures11.Throughthementioned
theexcellenttoolforpublicinvolvement.Assuch,oneof approaches, the special event can be held to gather the
theapproachestocapturepublicinputisthroughthereg- informationfromthepre-definedstakeholders.The‘traf-
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ficpeople’suchaspolicemen,engineers,officers,allroad asacasestudybasedontwomainreasons.Afirstreason
users,mediareporters,publichealthpersonnel,aswellas istheavailabilityofthehistoricalaccidentdatatoiden-
thegeneralpublicshouldbeinvitedtojointheinteractive tify the black spot locations. Unlike other cities where
event. lacksofaccidentdataareacknowledged,inthiscity,a
rich source of accident data is provided by the Khon
3.2 Informationmanagement KaenRegionalHospital(KKH)throughitsTraumaReg-
The valuable public inputs from the earlier stage istryDatabase.Asecondreasonistheavailabilityofpre-
shouldbeorganizedandprocessedinanestablishedman- vious researches, which provides a resources base for
nersothatitiseffective.Adatabasemanagementsystem futuredevelopmentofresearchandapplications.Inthis
canplayamajorroleingleaninginformationfromthe city,Ruengsornetal.12initiatedaGISroadaccidentda-
gathereddata.TheGeographicInformationSystem(GIS) tabase system. Through the developed systematic link-
anddatabasesoftwareshouldbeusedtoexecutethedata- age between road data and injury data in the GIS
base.Thiswillprovidethecapabilitytostoredata,update environment, any accident analysis based on Trauma
data,retrievedata,comparedataandspatiallydisplaythe RegistryDatabasecanbeperformedspatially.
datathroughGIS. ToidentifytheblackspotlocationsinKhonKaen
Municipality, data used are the 3-year accident reports
3.3 Identificationmethod recorded in the KKH’s database during the period of
Inordertoavoidbiasedresults,astheobtainedin- 2001to2003includingthetotalnumbersof4,089acci-
formationaregatheredinthesubjectivemanner,itisim- dentcases.Althoughthissourceofdatacanbeconsid-
portanttoconstructaprocesstotransformthissubjective ered as the richest source of accident data in Thailand
roadsafetyinformationintoaquantifiabledatathrougha presently,toeffectivelymakeuseofthisdata,itshould
representativevalue.Toachievethis,asafetyindexisre- benotedtherearetwopublichospitalsinthestudyarea.
quired. One such available technique is the statistical Itisreasonabletomakeanassumptionthatthevictims
quality control method. This method can be applied to would normally be sent to the nearest hospital. There-
formulate a critical value. Locations are identified as fore,someaccidentoccurrencesmaynotbeincludedin
blackspotsiftheirsafetyindexisgreaterthantheformu- theKKHdatabaseandthereforeareexcludedfromthe
latedcriticalvalue. analysis.
To perform the analysis, the road network in the
3.4 Programvalidation study area is divided based on Link RecognitionTech-
Questionsconcerningthereliabilityandtheaccu- nique12intotwocategories,i.e.intersectionsandsections.
racyofthefindingsarisewheneveroneconsiderspublic Thetotal75kilometersroadnetworkincludingmainar-
inputs, which consists of perception data gathered in a terial,arterials,andcollectorroads,aredividedinto96
subjectivemanner.Sincetheblackspotlocationsidenti- intersectionsand192roadsections.Tofacilitatethetask
fied viaAPPP are based on a subjective approach, the todeterminenumberofaccidentsoccurredoneachinter-
effectivenessoftheprogramrequiresvalidation.Theac- section/roadsection,thecomputerpackageasshownin
tualaccidentdataorobjectivedataavailableisemployed Figure 3 is developed. Series of command are custom-
for verification. The black spot locations identified via ized by theAvenue, the programming language that is
APPPisvalidatedagainstthoseidentifiedviaaconven- attached withArcView software. The package is pres-
tionalmethodbasedonobjectiveaccidentdata. entlyusedbytheKKHstafftomonitorandreportedthe
safetysituationintheprovinciallevel.
4. BLACK SPOT LOCATIONS IN KHON KAEN Thetotalnumberofaccidentsthatoccurredonthe
MUNICIPALITY intersectionsandroadsectionswere1,476and2,613ac-
cidentcases,respectively.BasedontheRateQualityCon-
Astheproposedmethodologyneedsvalidation,it trolMethod,certainintersection/roadsectionisidentified
is important to identify the black spot locations in the asablackspotlocationifitsaccidentcountsarehigher
studyareabasedontheclassicalapproachandusedfor thanthecriticalvaluecalculatedfromEquation1.Conse-
thecomparativestudy.Therefore,inthissection,theclas- quently,itisfoundthat28outof96intersectionsand65
sicalapproachnamelytheRateQualityControlMethod ofthe192roadsectionshavebeenidentifiedasblackspot
isusedtoidentifytheblackspotlocationsintheselected sites.Figure4revealsthespatialdistributionsoftheiden-
studyarea,KhonKaenMunicipality.Thiscityisselected tifiedintersectionsandroadsectionsinKhonKaenCity.
78 IATSSRESEARCHVol.30No.1,2006
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Fig.3Backspotlocationspackage
Fig.4BlackspotlocationsidentifiedviaRateQualityControlMethod
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Fig.5SpatialdistributionsofKKHdataandAPPPdata
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(A)APPPdata (B)KKHdata
Fig.6KerneldensitymapofAPPPdataandKKHdata
KKHdataarealsocreatedasshowninFigure6B.Ascan eralconditions13.TocalculatetheSpearmanrankcorre-
beseenfromthisfigurethatthehighcrash-densityareas lationcoefficient,itisnecessarytosegmentthedatasets
are distributed throughout the study area except in the and then rank the paired data sets in ascending or de-
Northwestpartofthemunicipality.Thisisduetothefact scendingorder13.
thatthereisanotherpublichospitallocatedinthisarea. ComputerpackagementionedinSection4isused
Therefore,itislikelythatpatientsinvolvedinthoseacci- todeterminethenumberofmatchedKKHdataandAPPP
dentsintheNorthwestpartareadmittedtothathospital dataforeachintersectionandroadsection.Thefindings
andarenotrecordedintheKKH’sdatabase.Nonetheless, areasshowninTable1.Alsotheranksareestablished
comparingthedistributionsasshowninFigure6reveals basedondescendingorderforKKHdataandAPPPdata
someconnectionsbetweenthedarkareasrepresentedthe bothintermsofcountandcountpermeter.Thepaired
highdatadensityparticularlyatlocationswherevictims datasetsarethenusedincalculatingtheSpearmanrank
shouldbesenttotheKKH.Thisindicatesthematching correlationcoefficient(ρs)asshowninEquation2.The
between the public reported locations (APPP data) and resultswillalwaysbebetween1(aperfectpositivecor-
the actual (high) accident occurrence locations (KKH relation) and -1 (a perfect negative correlation) and a
data).Inaddition,insomelocationswherehistoricalac- valuenearzeroindicatenorelationship.
cidentdataisdegraded(e.g.intheNorthwestpartofthe 2
municipalitywherethevictimsshouldbesenttoanother ρs = 1 − 6 ∑ d Equation2
n ( n 2 − 1)
hospital),theAPPPdatamaybeusefulasasupplement
datatotheavailablehistoricalaccidentdata. Where dis the difference between ranks and n is
thenumberofpairedsets.
5.2 Statisticaltest Under a null hypothesis of no correlation, the or-
Althoughavisualcomparisonintheprevioussub- dereddatapairsarerandomlymatchedandthusthesam-
sectionshowsthatthereareagreementbetweenthehis- plingdistributionofρshasmeanofzeroandthestandard
torical accident data (KKH data) andAPPP data. This deviation(σs)canbedeterminedusingEquation3 13.
visualassessmentmustbesupportedbystatisticalmeth-
1
odtorevealwhethertheagreementsarelegitimate.The σs = Equation3
Spearman rank correlation coefficient is used for this ( n − 1)
comparison.TheSpearmanrankcorrelationcoefficientis Sincethissamplingdistributioncanbeapproximat-
oftenusedasanonparametricalternativetoatraditional edwithanormaldistribution(N(0,1))evenforrelatively
coefficientofcorrelationandcanbeappliedundergen- small value of n., this approximation leads to a conve-
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Table1SummaryofKKHdataandAPPPdataonsegmentedroadnetwork
KKHdata APPPdata Rank
No. IDNumber Length (HistoricalAccidentRecord) (Publicinputdata) Difference
(m) Count Rank Count/ Rank Count Rank Count/ Rank (1)-(3) (2)-(4)
(1) Length (2) (3) Length (4)
1 0005 1218 42 24 0.0345 29 1 23.5 0.0008 32 0.5 -3
2 0010 493 59 23 0.1196 23 4 5 0.0081 15 18 8
3 0015 691 116 14 0.1680 22 4 5 0.0058 22 9 0
4 0020 554 60 22 0.1083 24 4 5 0.0072 18 17 6
5 0050 150 186 9 1.2361 11 2 11 0.0133 9 -2 2
6 0070 176 148 12 0.8401 15 3 7.5 0.0170 6 4.5 9
7 0105 531 109 16 0.2053 20 5 2.5 0.0094 12 13.5 8
8 0110 151 299 4 1.9865 5 2 11 0.0133 10 -7 -5
9 0115 150 314 2 2.0986 4 3 7.5 0.0200 4 -5.5 0
10 0135 215 289 5 1.3450 9 1 23.5 0.0047 25 -18.5 -16
11 0150 142 176 11 1.2418 10 1 23.5 0.0071 19 -12.5 -9
12 0155 130 8 31 0.0617 26 1 23.5 0.0077 16 7.5 10
13 0310 137 29 27 0.2119 19 1 23.5 0.0073 17 3.5 2
14 0360 142 226 7 1.5935 7 5 2.5 0.0353 1 4.5 6
15 0370 132 182 10 1.3799 8 2 11 0.0152 7 -1 1
16 0405 83 96 19 1.1518 12 2 11 0.0240 3 8 9
17 0500 138 333 1 2.4081 2 2 11 0.0145 8 -10 -6
18 0520 86 301 3 3.4844 1 1 23.5 0.0116 11 -20.5 -10
19 0545 107 113 15 1.0597 13 1 23.5 0.0094 13 -8.5 0
20 0690 111 0 33 0.0000 33 1 23.5 0.0090 14 9.5 19
21 0770 29 69 21 2.3744 3 1 23.5 0.0344 2 -2.5 1
22 0001060000 967 6 32 0.0062 32 1 23.5 0.0010 31 8.5 1
23 0001080000 1533 10 30 0.0065 31 1 23.5 0.0007 33 6.5 -2
24 0002030000 869 34 25 0.0391 27 6 1 0.0069 20 24 7
25 0002040000 659 23 28 0.0349 28 1 23.5 0.0015 28 4.5 0
26 0003070000 431 138 13 0.3199 18 1 23.5 0.0023 26 -10.5 -8
27 0003090000 211 99 18 0.4687 17 1 23.5 0.0047 24 -5.5 -7
28 0007020000 908 18 29 0.0198 30 1 23.5 0.0011 30 5.5 0
29 0007110000 188 189 8 1.0034 14 1 23.5 0.0053 23 -15.5 -9
30 0013010000 51 32 26 0.6322 16 1 23.5 0.0198 5 2.5 11
31 0022050000 147 238 6 1.6216 6 1 23.5 0.0068 21 -17.5 -15
32 0024010000 506 99 17 0.1958 21 1 23.5 0.0020 27 -6.5 -6
33 0026050000 731 79 20 0.1081 25 1 23.5 0.0014 29 -3.5 -4
Spearmanrankcorrelation(ρs) 0.363 0.668
Standarddeviation(σs) 0.177 0.177
CalculatedZ-value 2.055 3.779
nient form of a test for independence13,14. The null hy- With n equal to 33, the standard deviation (σs) is
pothesisofnocorrelationisrejectedif: calculated to be 0.177. On the count basis, Spearman
rankcorrelationcoefficient(ρs)iscalculatedtobe0.363.
ρs ( n − 1) ≥ Zα Equation4 Thecalculatedz-valueis2.055whichishigherthanthe
critical z-value of 1.96 representing the 97.5% level of
WhereZ�istheupper �pointofastandardnormal significant.Forthecountpermeter,Spearmanrankcor-
distribution14. relationcoefficient(ρs)iscalculatedtobe0.668.Thecal-
82 IATSSRESEARCHVol.30No.1,2006
APPLYINGPUBLICPARTICIPATIONAPPROACHTOBLACKSPOTIDENTIFICATIONPROCESS–ACaseStudyinThailand– W.KOWTANAPANICH,Y.TANABORIBOON,W.CHADBUNCHACHAI
culatedz-valueis3.779whichishigherthanthecritical ThemismatchedlocationwaslocatedintheNorthwest
z-value of 2.33 representing the 99% level of signifi- area.
cant. The findings reveal that most locations identified
The results from the correlation analysis indicate bytwoormoreparticipants,areindeedblackspotloca-
thattherankingfromthetwodatasetagreedatthe97.5% tions, and the evidence indicates that mismatches oc-
and 99% level of significance on the count basis and curredmostlyintheNorthwestarea.However,asearlier
countpermeterbasis,respectively.Thefindingsinthis mentionedthatcrashesrecordedinthisareaareincom-
sub-sectionprovidefurtherevidentoftheagreementbe- plete,themismatchedlocationsmayfurtherhelpidentify
tweenthetwodatasets. locationswhereaccidentsarenotrecordedproperly.
Table2NumberofblackspotlocationsidentifiedviaAPPP
Pointedoutby Pointedoutby Pointedoutby Pointedoutby
≥ 1people ≥ 2people ≥ 3people ≥ 4people
No.ofBlackSpot Roadsections 12 1 1 1
LocationsIdentified Intersections 21 12 7 5
byAPPP Total 33 13 8 6
IATSSRESEARCHVol.30No.1,2006 83
TRANSPORTATION
Table3AgreementofblackspotlocationsidentifiedviaAPPPandRateQualityControlmethod
BlackSpotLocation
No. ID Type APPPApproach
Pointedoutby RQQ
APPP
≥ 1 ≥2 ≥3 ≥4 Approach
Count
people people people people
1 0005 SignalizedIntersection 1 B - - - B
2 0010 SignalizedIntersection 4 B B B B B
3 0015 SignalizedIntersection 4 B B B B B
4 0020 SignalizedIntersection 4 B B B B B
5 0050 SignalizedIntersection 2 B B - - B
6 0070 SignalizedIntersection 3 B B B - B
7 0105 RoundAbout 5 B B B B B
8 0110 SignalizedIntersection 2 B B - - B
9 0115 SignalizedIntersection 3 B B B - B
10 0135 SignalizedIntersection 1 B - - - B
11 0150 SignalizedIntersection 1 B - - - B
12 0155 UnsignalizedIntersection 1 B - - - -
13 0310 SignalizedIntersection 1 B - - - B
14 0360 SignalizedIntersection 5 B B B B B
15 0370 UnsignalizedIntersection 2 B B - - B
16 0405 UnsignalizedIntersection 2 B B - - B
17 0500 SignalizedIntersection 2 B B - - B
18 0520 UnsignalizedIntersection 1 B - - - B
19 0545 UnsignalizedIntersection 1 B - - - B
20 0690 UnsignalizedIntersection 1 B - - - -
21 0770 RailwayCrossing 1 B - - - B
22 0001060000 4lanes,divided,w/ofrontage 1 B - - - -
23 0001080000 4lanes,divided,w/ofrontage 1 B - - - -
24 0002030000 6lanesormore,undividedwfrontage 6 B B B B -
25 0002040000 6lanesormore,undividedw/ofrontage 1 B - - - -
26 0003070000 6lanesormore,undividedw/ofrontage 1 B - - - B
27 0003090000 6lanesormore,undividedw/ofrontage 1 B - - - B
28 0007020000 2lanes,Roadwaywidth>6.0m 1 B - - - -
29 0007110000 6lanesormore,undivided 1 B - - - B
30 0013010000 2lanes,Roadwaywidth>6.0m 1 B - - - B
31 0022050000 2lanes,Roadwaywidth>6.0m 1 B - - - B
32 0024010000 4lanes,undivided 1 B - - - B
33 0026050000 2lanes,Roadwaywidth>6.0m 1 B - - - B
No.oflocationstrulyidentifiedbyAPPPdata 26 12 7 5
No.oflocationswronglyidentifiedbyAPPPdata 7 1 1 1
TotalnumberoflocationidentifiedbyAPPPdata 33 13 8 6
Percentoftrulyidentified 78.8% 92.3% 87.5% 83.3%
84 IATSSRESEARCHVol.30No.1,2006
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