3D Sight Distance Calculation and Estimation of its Effect on Road Accidents in GIS Environment

Abstract

Nowadays, one of the main causes of human death is driving accidents. Across the world 1.2 million people die and several million people get injured annually as a result of road accidents. One of the main solutions that is important in resolving the problem of accidents is identifying the factors and their role and impact and the contribution of each in the accident. The stopping sight distance in the route is one of the initial factors in the driver’s performance error as well as the occurrence of an accident, financial losses, and deaths. The geometric design of roads is generally designed according to two-dimensional rules and regulations. Hence, today, given the remarkable advances in computer science and programming, there are many possibilities for 3D modeling of the route. Therefore, the calculation of the stopping sight distance should be based on existing facts and new scientific achievements. On the contrary, the stopping sight distance is one of the factors affecting driving crashes; therefore, this paper tries to investigate the accident occurrence probability in other spots of the existing route by calculating 3D stopping sight distance and using drivers’ free flow speed, as well as using the GIS software. In this way, the results of this study can pave the way for improving the geometric design of existing roads as well as prioritizing the correction of the accidental points of existing routes.