Assessment of the Effects of Traffic Control Plans on Accidents (A Case Study of Kashan: March 2007 - March 2008)

Kashan is the second largest and most populated city of the Isfahan province. The increase in the number of vehicle in Central Business District (CBD) of the city caused a heavy traffic density that could not be diminished even by parallel or new access routes. Thus, municipal authorities had to define short-term traffic control plans to lessen traffic problems of the city. In this plan, Rajaei Avenue and Kashani intersection were selected and alternatives to upgrade the Level of Service (LOS) and reducing accidents are evaluated and implemented. By having the traffic data before and after the traffic control plan implementation phase and performing a before and after analysis, the efficiency of each single action is evaluated. Using statistical tests and paired comparison analysis for two variables (number of accidents and traffic calming) before and after the deployment of traffic control plan, it is found that the reduction of the number of accidents in Rajaei Avenue is statistically meaningful. On the other hand, although the plan was not completely successful on Kashani Intersection, the sum of all traffic accidents has been reduced by the implementation of the traffic control plan. Regarding traffic calming, the data shows the considerable effect of the plan on increasing operational speed and reduction of accidents on the two above-mentioned zones.