Assessing potential areas of road accidents in highways of East Azerbaijan province using the ANP model

Road transport network is facing a wide range of natural and human disasters, because of geographical extent and functional diversity. In addition to direct damage to road transport networks, accidents can cause indirect damage to road network users and even entire community. Present research is an attempt for assessing potential areas of road accidents in highways of East Azerbaijan province. In this regard, four main criteria (climate, environmental, topographic and road factors) and fourteen sub-criteria were used. The weights of each criterion and their sub-criteria were computed using ANP model. In doing so, the final map of proposed sites for road accidents was prepared by integrating them with standard layers. The results of this study revealed that road safety criterion has the most importance in road accidents and the sub-criterion of the crash is also of paramount importance. Furthermore, the segment of Koshksaray-Marand was the most dangerous area and segment of Jolfa-Norduz was the least risky area in terms of the probability of occurrence of road accidents in highways of East Azerbaijan province.