Assessment of the Accident-Prone Areas of Barangay Dolores Junction in City of San Fernando, Pampanga

Abstract

In today’s world, road accident is one of the leading causes of injury-related deaths. As more people own vehicles for transportation, the number of people involved in road accidents continues to rise. This accident is the most unpleasant event that may happen to a road user. The objective of this research is to assess the accident-prone areas of Barangay Dolores Junction in City of San Fernando, Pampanga, and to determine the most significant factors causing the road accidents. In this research, 31 factors were considered and they were grouped into 3 categories; human factor, vehicle factor, and environmental factor. Moreover, a survey questionnaire consisting of questions related to the said categories was given to 400 respondents who are apparently road users. The Relative Importance Index was used to find the most significant factors of road accidents at the intersection of Barangay Dolores. The results from the survey revealed that the ten significant factors were all from the group environmental factor. Furthermore, 31 factors were identified as the causes of road accidents but the top ten most significant factors were (1) illegal parking on the road (sidewalk, driveway, street, within a crosswalk, at or inside intersection), (2) lighting deficiencies on roads when it gets dark, (3) poor state of road pavement and maintenance, (4) inadequate design of road shoulders or sidewalks, (5) unnecessary barriers on the road, (6) heavy rainfall and slippery roads, (7) inadequate or badly maintained horizontal and vertical signals (pedestrian lanes, white lines on the road, arrows, stop, give way, etc.), (8) insufficient clearance, (9) small number of restricted speed zones in cities, and (10) dangerous bends (U-turns). To conclude, these findings will help the government and the road users to minimize and prevent the road accidents in Barangay Dolores Intersection.