Citation

Scott MC, Roy SS, Prasad S. Traffic Injury Prev. 2016; 17(7): 729-735.

Affiliation

Department of Geography and Regional Studies , University of Miami , FL , USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/15389588.2016.1144878

PMID

26890148

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is to analyze the spatial distribution of the vehicles involved in crashes in Miami-Dade County. In addition, we also analyzed the role of time of the day, day of the week, seasonality, drivers' age have on the distribution of traffic crashes.

METHOD: Off the system crash data acquired from the Florida Department of Transportation during 2005-2010 were divided into subcategories according to the risk factors of age, time of the day, day of the week, and by travel season. Various spatial statistics methods, including Nearest Neighbor Analysis, Getis-Ord hot spot analysis, and Kernell density analysis revealed substantial spatial variations, depending on the subcategory that was in question.

RESULTS: Downtown Miami and South Beach showed up consistently as hot spots of traffic crashes in all the of sub categories except fatal crashes. However, fatal crashes were concentrated in residential areas in inland areas.

CONCLUSION: This understanding of patterns can help the county target high risk areas and help to reduce crash fatalities to create a safer environment for motorists and pedestrians.

Language: en