viktoriia-yuzkiv / urban-road-safety-in-barcelona

How Do Various Factors Influence Urban Road Safety in Barcelona?

This project was developed as a final project for the Geospatial Data Science class at the Barcelona School of Economics.

Living in Barcelona, a bustling urban center, exposes residents to the daily intricacies of navigating its streets, whether by foot, bike, or vehicle. However, amidst the city's vibrancy lies the sobering reality of road safety challenges. Car accidents, ranging from minor incidents to tragic fatalities, underscore the urgency of understanding the dynamics of road incidents within Barcelona. Recognizing this, our team embarked on a research project to explore the spatial patterns and factors influencing car accidents in the city.

Approach

Utilizing geospatial data provided by the Ayuntamiento de Barcelona, our research focused on pinpointing the distribution of accidents across different districts, examining the severity of injuries and fatalities, and identifying potential correlations with urban geospatial characteristics. Through rigorous analysis, we aimed to unearth insights that could inform both personal vigilance and broader discussions on urban safety measures.

Findings

Our investigation revealed compelling insights into Barcelona's road safety landscape. We identified Eixample as the city's primary accident hotspot, with notable correlations indicating that accidents are more likely to occur near crosswalks and in zones experiencing higher traffic flow. Temporal patterns also highlighted a summertime spike in accidents, attributed to increased tourist activity.

Report Structure:

1. Introduction
2. State of Art
3. Data
4. Understanding Accidents and Number of Victims relation
   1. Understanding the accident landscape
   2. Exploring accident severity
5. Identifying contributing factors
   1. Unveiling seasonal trends
   2. Proximity to crosswalks
   3. Impact of traffic levels
6. Regression Analysis: Predicting Victim Numbers
7. Conclusions
8. Bibliography

Contributors:

• Viktoriia Yuzkiv
• Rui Maciel
• Angelo Di Gianvito