Chendhuran College of Engineering and Technology

Department of Computer Science and Engineering

College Code: 9103
Foundation Course – AI and Green Skills

Completed the project named as

Traffic Accident Data Analysis for Safer Cities

Team Members:
1. M.Sainath - aut91032022cs008
2. M.Abishek - aut91032022cs006
3. A.Valliyappan-aut91032022cs012
4. S.Yokesh Kumar -
aut91032022cs007
 BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE
Certified that this project report titled “Traffic Accident Data Analysis for Safer Cities” is bonafide
work of A.Valliyappan- [910322104057], who carried out the work under my supervision, for the
partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the degree of Bachelor of Engineering in
Computer Science and Engineering. Certified further that to the best of my knowledge and belief, the
work reported herein does not form part of any other thesis or dissertation on the basis of which a
degree or an award was conferred on an earlier occasion.

SIGNATURE SIGNATURE

Mrs. P. ROHINI, M.E, Mrs. DURGA, M.E., M.B.A. , HEAD

OF THE DEPARTMENT SUPERVISOR

Assistant Professor, Assistant Professor,

Department of Computer Science, Department of Computer
Science, and Engineering and Engineering

Chendhuran College of Chendhuran College of

Engineering and Technology, Engineering and Technology,

Pilivalam, Thirumayam TK, Pilivalam, Thirumayam TK,

Pudukkottai – 622 507 Pudukkottai – 622 507

Submitted for the Viva-Voce Examination held on

INTERNAL EXAMINER EXTERNAL EXAMINER

Introduction
In today’s rapidly urbanizing world, road safety remains a critical concern for city
planners, policymakers, and citizens alike. With millions of vehicles navigating complex
road networks daily, traffic accidents have become a major threat to public safety,
causing significant loss of life, injuries, and economic damage. To tackle this pressing
issue, cities are increasingly turning to data-driven solutions.

Traffic accident data analysis involves collecting and examining detailed information
about road incidents to uncover patterns, causes, and high-risk areas. By leveraging
advanced technologies such as geospatial mapping, statistical modeling, and machine
learning, this approach enables authorities to make informed decisions aimed at
reducing accidents and enhancing overall traffic safety.

The ultimate goal of this analytical approach is to create safer cities — urban
environments where roads are more secure, traffic flows efficiently, and lives are
protected. Through intelligent insights and targeted interventions, traffic accident data
analysis plays a vital role in shaping sustainable and resilient cities of the future.
Problem Statement & Objectives
In recent years, cities across the globe have witnessed a surge in traffic-related
accidents due to increased urbanization, rising vehicle ownership, and insufficient road
infrastructure. These accidents result in a significant number of fatalities, injuries, and
property damage, affecting not only individuals but also communities and national
economies. Traditional approaches to traffic management and safety have often been
reactive, based on limited data and assumptions, rather than proactive, data-informed
strategies.

Addressing this problem requires a shift toward data-driven decision-making. By

analyzing detailed traffic accident data, cities can identify accident hotspots, understand
risk factors, and evaluate the effectiveness of past interventions. This knowledge can
drive smarter urban planning and road safety strategies that are both targeted and cost-
effective.

Objectives

The key objective of this study is to utilize traffic accident data analysis as a tool to
enhance road safety and contribute to the development of safer urban environments.
The specific objectives are:

1. To identify patterns and trends in traffic accidents by analyzing historical data

based on time, location, vehicle types, and weather conditions.

2. To detect high-risk areas (accident hotspots) within urban road networks using
geospatial and statistical techniques.

3. To examine the main contributing factors to accidents, such as human behavior,

infrastructure deficiencies, and environmental influences.

4. To support data-driven decision-making for urban planners and traffic authorities

in developing targeted road safety policies and interventions.
Data Collection and Preparation
Data Collection

Effective traffic accident data analysis begins with the systematic collection of high-
quality data from reliable sources. The goal is to gather comprehensive information on
road incidents to enable meaningful analysis and decision-making. The primary data
sources may include:

• Police Reports: Detailed records of traffic accidents including time, location, type
of accident, and severity.

• Traffic Department Databases: Centralized systems that store long-term traffic

and accident data.

• Emergency Services: Information from ambulance and hospital records about

injuries and fatalities.

• GPS and Mobile Apps: Real-time traffic data from navigation systems and driving
apps.

• CCTV and Traffic Cameras: Video footage to understand behavior and traffic flow
before accidents.

Data Preparation

Before analysis, the raw data must undergo a preparation phase to ensure it is clean,
accurate, and structured. This includes:

1. Data Cleaning: Removing duplicates, fixing inconsistent formats, correcting

errors, and addressing missing values.

2. Data Integration: Combining data from multiple sources (e.g., police reports +
weather data) to create a unified dataset.

3. Data Transformation: Standardizing units, categorizing data (e.g., severity levels),

and creating new features (e.g., time of day segments).
Proposed Solution (Methodology)
To effectively analyze traffic accident data and contribute to safer cities, a structured
methodology is essential. The proposed solution follows a multi-step, data-driven
approach combining statistical analysis, geospatial techniques, and predictive modeling.
The goal is to extract actionable insights that can guide targeted interventions and
inform road safety strategies.

1. Data Acquisition and Preparation

• Collect accident data from multiple sources including police records, traffic
departments, GPS systems, weather agencies, and CCTV footage.

• Clean and preprocess the data by removing duplicates, correcting inconsistencies,

and filling missing values.

• Integrate external data such as weather conditions and road layouts for enhanced
context.

2. Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA)

• Perform descriptive statistical analysis to identify trends such as:

o Time of day, day of week, and seasonal patterns

o Vehicle types most involved in accidents

o Common causes and severity levels

• Use visual tools (charts, heatmaps) to reveal patterns and anomalies.

3. Geospatial Analysis

• Use Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to map accident locations.

• Identify accident hotspots (high-risk zones) using clustering algorithms like K-

Means or DBSCAN.

• Analyze the correlation between road infrastructure (e.g., intersections, signals)

and accident frequency.
4. Predictive Modeling

• Apply machine learning techniques such as:

o Logistic Regression or Decision Trees for predicting accident severity

o Random Forest or XGBoost to identify the most influential factors

• Develop a risk prediction model that forecasts the likelihood of accidents under
certain conditions (e.g., during rain or at night).

5. Recommendation and Decision Support

• Based on the analysis, generate recommendations such as:

o Redesigning hazardous intersections

o Installing speed cameras or warning signs in high-risk zones

o Implementing time-based traffic regulations

• Provide dashboards or visual reports for easy interpretation by policymakers.

6. Evaluation and Feedback

• Monitor the impact of implemented measures on accident rates.

• Update models regularly with new data to maintain accuracy.

• Gather feedback from traffic authorities and stakeholders for continuous

improvement.

This methodology provides a scalable and adaptive framework that supports smart city
initiatives and promotes proactive road safety management through intelligent use of
data.
System Design
1. Overview

The system is designed to collect, process, analyze, and visualize traffic accident data to support
decision-making aimed at improving urban road safety. It combines multiple data sources, performs
advanced analytics, and delivers actionable insights to stakeholders such as city planners, traffic
authorities, and emergency services.

2. Key Components

A. Data Sources

• Traffic Accident Records: Police reports, traffic department databases.

• Sensors and Cameras: CCTV footage, speed cameras, traffic signals.
• GPS and Mobile Apps: Real-time vehicle location and movement data.
• Environmental Data: Weather, road conditions from meteorological services.
• Emergency Services: Ambulance and hospital injury reports.

B. Data Ingestion Layer

• APIs and ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) pipelines to automatically fetch and consolidate data
from various sources.
• Batch and real-time streaming data handling.

C. Data Storage

• Centralized data warehouse or data lake storing raw and processed data.
• Use of relational databases for structured data and NoSQL for unstructured data like images or
videos.

D. Data Processing & Cleaning

• Data validation, deduplication, missing value imputation.

• Standardization of data formats (e.g., timestamps, location coordinates).
• Anonymization to protect personal data.

E. Analytics Engine

• Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA): Summary statistics, trend identification.

• Geospatial Analysis: Mapping accident hotspots using GIS tools.
 • Machine Learning Models: Predictive modeling to forecast accident risks and severity.
• Root Cause Analysis: Identifying key factors influencing accidents.

F. Visualization and Reporting

• Interactive dashboards showing accident trends, hotspots, and risk factors.

• Customizable reports for policymakers and public awareness campaigns.
• Alerts and notifications for high-risk areas or unusual patterns.

G. User Interface

• Web portal and mobile app interfaces for different users (traffic authorities, city planners,
emergency responders).
• Role-based access control for data security.

3. Workflow

1. Data Collection: Automated ingestion from multiple sources.

2. Data Storage: Raw data stored in a secure repository.
3. Data Cleaning: Processed to ensure quality and consistency.
4. Analysis: Algorithms run to detect patterns, hotspots, and predictions.
5. Visualization: Insights presented through user-friendly dashboards.
6. Action: Decision-makers use insights for interventions (e.g., infrastructure upgrades, traffic law
enforcement).

4. Technology Stack (Example)

• Data Ingestion: Apache Kafka, REST APIs

• Storage: PostgreSQL, MongoDB, AWS S3
• Processing: Python (Pandas, NumPy), Apache Spark
• GIS Tools: QGIS, ArcGIS, Google Maps API
• Machine Learning: Scikit-learn, TensorFlow
• Visualization: Power BI, Tableau, Dash, or custom web apps with React.js
• Security: OAuth 2.0, Encryption for sensitive data

5. Scalability and Maintenance

• Modular design to accommodate new data sources and analytics techniques.

• Cloud-based infrastructure for scalability and availability.
• Continuous monitoring and model retraining with updated data.
• Backup and disaster recovery plans to safeguard data integrity.
Model Performance Evaluation
Evaluating the performance of predictive models in traffic accident data analysis is crucial to ensure
their reliability and usefulness in real-world decision-making. The evaluation helps assess how well the
model predicts outcomes such as accident severity, likelihood of accidents at certain locations, or times.

1. Types of Models to Evaluate

• Classification Models: Predict categories like accident severity (e.g., fatal, serious, minor) or
accident occurrence (yes/no).
• Regression Models: Predict continuous outcomes such as the number of accidents in a given
area/time.
• Clustering Models: Identify accident hotspots without predefined labels.

For Regression Models:

• Mean Absolute Error (MAE)

Average absolute difference between predicted and actual values.
• Mean Squared Error (MSE)
Average squared difference between predicted and actual values, penalizing larger errors more.
• Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE)
Square root of MSE, interpretable in the original units.
• R-squared (R²)
Proportion of variance explained by the model.

For Clustering Models:

• Silhouette Score
Measures how similar an object is to its own cluster compared to other clusters.
• Davies-Bouldin Index
Average similarity between clusters, where lower values indicate better clustering.

2. Cross-Validation

• Use techniques like k-fold cross-validation to validate model performance on different subsets
of the data, reducing overfitting and improving generalizability.

3. Model Interpretation and Validation

• Analyze feature importance to understand which factors most influence accident prediction.
Implementation
The implementation of a traffic accident data analysis system involves several key
stages, combining software development, data science, and domain expertise to deliver
actionable insights for safer cities.

1. Data Collection and Integration

• Set up data pipelines to collect traffic accident data from multiple sources such as
police records, traffic sensors, GPS devices, and weather databases.

• Use APIs or batch processes to ingest data automatically on a regular basis.

• Store raw data in a scalable and secure data storage system such as a cloud-
based data lake or database.

2. Data Preprocessing

• Clean the data by handling missing values, removing duplicates, and correcting
inconsistencies.

• Standardize formats (dates, locations, severity categories).

• Geocode accident locations for spatial analysis.

• Anonymize sensitive personal information to ensure compliance with privacy

laws.

3. Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA)

• Use tools like Python (Pandas, Matplotlib, Seaborn) or R to visualize accident

trends by time, location, and cause.

• Identify outliers, seasonal effects, or data quality issues.

• Generate summary statistics to guide further analysis.

4. Model Development

• Choose appropriate models based on objectives, e.g.:

 • Classification models (Logistic Regression, Random Forest, XGBoost) to predict
accident severity or likelihood.

• Clustering algorithms (K-Means, DBSCAN) to detect accident hotspots.

• Split data into training and testing sets to build and validate models.

• Train models using machine learning libraries like scikit-learn, TensorFlow, or

PyTorch.

• Tune hyperparameters to optimize performance.

5. Geospatial Analysis

• Integrate GIS tools (e.g., QGIS, ArcGIS, or Google Maps API) to map accident
locations and visualize hotspots.

• Combine accident data with road network and infrastructure information for
deeper insights.

6. Deployment and Visualization

• Develop interactive dashboards using platforms like Power BI, Tableau, or web
frameworks (Dash, Flask, React).

• Provide role-based access for city officials, traffic planners, and emergency
responders.

• Implement alert systems to notify stakeholders about emerging risk areas or

abnormal accident patterns.

7. Monitoring and Maintenance

• Continuously update data and retrain models with new accident records.

• Monitor system performance and accuracy over time.

Code Structure
traffic_accident_analysis/

├── data/

│ ├── raw/ # Raw data files (CSV, JSON, etc.)

│ ├── processed/ # Cleaned and processed data

│ └── external/ # External datasets (weather, road maps)

├── notebooks/

│ └── exploratory_analysis.ipynb # EDA and visualization

├── src/

│ ├── __init__.py

│ ├── data_preprocessing.py # Data cleaning, transformation, geocoding

│ ├── feature_engineering.py # Creating features for ML models

│ ├── model_training.py # Training classification/regression models

│ ├── model_evaluation.py # Functions to evaluate model performance

│ ├── geospatial_analysis.py # Hotspot detection, mapping functions

│ ├── visualization.py # Dashboard and plotting utilities

│ └── utils.py # Helper functions (data loading, saving, etc.)

├── tests/

│ ├── test_data_preprocessing.py

│ ├── test_model_training.py
│ └── test_geospatial_analysis.py

├── configs/

│ └── config.yaml # Config file for paths, parameters

├── requirements.txt # Python dependencies

├── run_analysis.py # Main script to run the full pipeline

└── README.md

Sample run_analysis.py Skeleton

from src.data_preprocessing import clean_data

from src.feature_engineering import create_features

from src.model_training import train_model

from src.model_evaluation import evaluate_model

from src.geospatial_analysis import detect_hotspots

from src.visualization import generate_dashboard

def main():

df_clean = clean_data('data/raw/accidents.csv')

df_features = create_features(df_clean)

model = train_model(df_features)

evaluate_model(model, df_features)

hotspots = detect_hotspots(df_clean)

if __name__ == "__main__":main()
Screenshots
Future Scope
The analysis of traffic accident data for safer cities is a rapidly evolving field with
numerous opportunities for enhancement and expansion. As technology advances and
data availability improves, several promising directions can extend the impact and
effectiveness of such projects:

1. Integration with Real-Time Data

• Incorporate real-time data streams from traffic cameras, IoT sensors, and
connected vehicles to enable immediate detection and response to accidents.

• Use live weather updates, traffic flow data, and social media feeds for dynamic
risk assessment.

2. Advanced Predictive Analytics

• Apply deep learning models and AI techniques to better predict accident

hotspots, causation patterns, and severity.

• Develop personalized risk prediction models based on driver behavior, vehicle

type, and environmental factors.

3. Multi-Source Data Fusion

• Combine traffic accident data with health records, emergency response times,
road infrastructure quality, and urban planning data for holistic safety insights.

• Use satellite imagery and LIDAR data to enhance spatial analysis of accident-
prone areas.

4. Smart City Integration

• Embed accident analysis systems within smart city frameworks for automated
traffic management, adaptive signal controls, and emergency dispatch
optimization.

• Collaborate with autonomous vehicle systems to improve navigation and accident

avoidance.
Conclusion
Traffic accident data analysis plays a crucial role in enhancing urban road safety and
reducing fatalities and injuries. By systematically collecting, processing, and analyzing
accident data, cities can identify high-risk areas, understand underlying causes, and
implement targeted interventions. The integration of advanced machine learning
models and geospatial analysis empowers city planners and policymakers with
actionable insights to design safer infrastructure and improve emergency response.

As cities continue to grow and traffic complexity increases, leveraging data-driven

approaches becomes essential for proactive accident prevention and smarter traffic
management. This project demonstrates how effective data analysis combined with
modern visualization tools can guide decision-making processes, ultimately contributing
to safer roads and saving lives.