Due to the increase in road traffic and traffic participants, the number of road traffic accidents has risen dramatically. Road accidents are a daily occurrence and are the result of various factors. Because of the great diversity of these factors it is essential to study spatial patterns of road accidents and predict road accident ‘hotspots’ accordingly. The purpose of this thesis is to study the occurrence of road accidents in the City Municipality of Ljubljana and suggest ways to highlight and map road accident-prone points. After having studied literature on road accidents, I came to the conclusion that no similar detailed research has been conducted in Slovenia. The objective of this study is to identify accident-intensive sections by using Kernel’s method and taking into account the actual spatial patterns of road accidents. This Master’s thesis suggests a simple and an efficient methodology for the identification of accident-intensive sections. Accordingly, it is a contribution to the field of accessing publicly available information on road traffic accidents. The thesis will also help design a model consisting of a method and procedure for processing information used for the identification of road accident hotspots, which will serve as a basis for further expert analysis and scientific researches in the field of road safety. The results of this analysis will be beneficial to traffic police, who assist with various operations aimed at traffic calming, planners and implementers of road safety measures as well as road maintenance workers and engineers when planning road repairs and constructing new roads.
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