Assessment and Prioritization of the Critical Factors Triggering Road Accidents in India

Abstract
Road safety and its risk assessment has become very significant due to the increasing population and usage of transports in the current scenario. This research work primarily focuses on assessing the critical risk factors that trigger road accidents in India. Based on literature review and expert’s opinion, twenty-eight risk factors are identified and rated on a scale from 1 – 6. These critical factors are prepared as a questionnaire and the required input data is collected from a diversified set of automotive users. Further, the data is carefully processed and analyzed for identification of severe risk factors and its allied route cause based on the survey pattern. Three different cut-off patterns (Low risk, high risk & medium risk zone) are included to make the study more interesting, and the 28 factors are clustered with the aid of the collective results. Also, the dominant risk factors that has higher probability in triggering road accidents are identified for possible rectification.