Spatial crash prediction models: an evaluation of the impacts of enriched information on model performance and the suitability of different spatial modeling approaches

Abstract

The unavailability of crash-related data has been a long lasting challenge in Brazil. In addition to the poor implementation and follow-up of road safety strategies, this drawback has hampered the development of studies that could contribute to national goals toward road safety. In contrast, developed countries have built their effective strategies on solid data basis, therefore, investing a considerable time and money in obtaining and creating pertinent information. In this research, we aim to assess the potential impacts of supplementary data on spatial model performance and the suitability of different spatial modeling approaches on crash prediction. The intention is to notify the authorities in Brazil and other developing countries, about the importance of having appropriate data. In this thesis we set two specific objectives: (I) to investigate the spatial model prediction accuracy at unsampled subzones; (II) to evaluate the performance of spatial data analysis approaches on crash prediction. Firstly, we carry out a benchmarking based on Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) models developed for Flanders, Belgium, and São Paulo, Brazil. Models are developed for two modes of transport: active (i.e. pedestrians and cyclists) and motorized transport (i.e. motorized vehicles occupants). Subsequently, we apply the repeated holdout method on the Flemish models, introducing two GWR validation approaches, named GWR holdout1 and GWR holdout2. While the former is based on the local coefficient estimates derived from the neighboring subzones and measures of the explanatory variables for the validation subzones, the latter uses the casualty estimates of the neighboring subzones directly to estimate outcomes for the missing subzones. Lastly, we compare the performance of GWR models with Mean Imputation (MEI), K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN) and Kriging with External Drift (KED). Findings showed that by adding the supplementary data, reductions of 20% and 25% for motorized transport, and 25% and 35% for active transport resulted in corrected Akaike Information Criterion (AICc) and Mean Squared Prediction Errors (MSPE), respectively. From a practical perspective, the results could help us identify hotspots and prioritize data collection strategies besides identify, implement and enforce appropriate countermeasures. Concerning the spatial approaches, GWR holdout2 outperformed all other techniques and proved that GWR is an appropriate spatial technique for both prediction and impact analyses. Especially in countries where data availability has been an issue, this validation framework allows casualties or crash frequencies to be estimated while effectively capturing the spatial variation of the data.