Identification and Prioritization Techniques Applied to Urban Accident-Prone Locations: A Scoping Review

Abstract

Background: Traffic accidents result in human and material damages. Although global agreements make commitments to reduce the number of victims of traffic accidents, at the local level, the challenges imposed on those responsible for identifying critical situations and proposing solutions challenge them daily. This peculiarity requires choosing the most appropriate instruments to assess road safety conditions and point out candidate locations for mitigating actions.Methods: Were obtained relevant studies on identifying and prioritizing accident-prone locations from the consultation of two electronic databases (Scopus and Web of Science). The data obtained were persisted on the Rayyan platform and evaluated by independent reviewers. Studies carried out in urban areas, which carry out the tasks of grouping accidents into units of analysis, identifying candidate areas, and prioritizing accident-prone locations, were selected.Results: Forty-two studies were selected and evaluated. The applied units of analysis, identification methods, and criteria for prioritizing candidate areas for accident-prone locations were identified among the studies found. The mapping of the works that apply statistical significance criteria of the findings and longitudinal analyses of the candidate sites was carried out.Conclusions: This work presents a narrative summary mapping the heterogeneity of applied approaches. The contribution of this study was the presentation of the roadmap for the different studies related to the analysis of APLs. Finally, it points to the need to adopt longitudinal analysis in future studies