Abstract
In this article, a traffic accident analysis tool, called the Road Accident Analyzer, is being developed to visualize traffic safety in any specific region. First, a literature review is conducted, which results in a well-structured overview of the existing methodologies from over the world to identify high-risk road locations. In most studies concerning the identification of high-risk locations two important phases can be distinguished. In the first phase a safety indicator has to be calculated. Subsequently it is investigated whether the value of this safety indicator significantly exceeds a predetermined threshold value in the second phase. After the theoretical discussion of these two phases, a new geographic information system (GIS)-based tool is being developed, with which high-risk road locations can be identified and geographically visualized. In a case study of the E313 highway in Flanders three accident indicators are calculated: the accident density, the accident risk, and the expected number of accidents on the basis of an accident model (empirical Bayes approach). Thereafter, priority sites will be determined for each approach. Afterwards the advantages and disadvantages of each methodology are critically discussed.