GIS and simulation based road accident cost estimation

Road accidents are one of the most important problems being faced by modern societies. Apart from the humanitarian aspect of reducing road deaths and injuries in developing countries, a strong case can be made for reducing road crash deaths on economic grounds alone, as they consume massive financial resources that the countries can ill afford to lose. The deaths of persons and serious economic loss caused by road accident demand a continuous attention in accordance with the spectacular growth in road transportation. It is now realised that better and more efficient techniques of accident information management are required. GIS provides a single framework within which both spatial and attribute information can be stored and effectively displayed. This paper explains the development of a GIS using the Map Info and ArcVIEW GIS to access accident and their cost for Chennai. Also deals with the forecasting of the road accident and their cost based on the data collected from various accident studies. A cost estimation model has been prepared by adopting the System Dynamics approach. The outcome of the study is highly useful for the retrieval of road accidents and their cost for Chennai. The availability of both the spatial and attribute information within a single framework makes it an attractive alternative to the conventional methods.