Characteristics of the Locations of Increased Road Traffic Incidents in Urban Road Networks in Poland

The results of studies carried out for years by researchers around the world point to man as the most important and - at the same time - the weakest link in traffic processes, and therefore road traffic incidents are caused by hardly anything other than human error. A majority of such errors leading to traffic incidents are made for specific reasons, such as a faulty road environment. The spatial distribution of road traffic incidents is not random - it follows a specific pattern with most incidents concentrating at the 'weakest' points of a road network with identifiable shortcomings, making it more difficult for the road users to assess the circumstances and take appropriate action. Points like these are referred to as 'hazardous locations'. The purpose of this article is to define and describe such locations where specific types of road incidents concentrate at urban road network intersections and intermediate sections between them in Poland. The analysis utilised a modern IT system, WZDR (Road and Traffic Management Support IT System), currently implemented in a few cities in Poland. The most important analytical part of the study contains a detailed description of the relationship between the characteristics representing an increased hazard to road traffic participants in the hazardous locations and incorrect behaviour of the users caused by the considered faults of road infrastructure. This analysis enables identification of typical faults of selected elements of a road network from the point of view of road traffic safety. It provides a basis for improvement of the current principles of design applied both to intersections and to elements of road infrastructure located between intersections.