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Knowledge of the Concepts of "Black Spot", "Grey Spot" and "High Accident Concentration Sections" Among Drivers

Received: 28 October 2016     Accepted: 8 November 2016     Published: 12 December 2016
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Abstract

One of the major problems related to road injuries and deaths are the presence of Black Spots. This problem has received a growing amount of attention from road managers thorough last decades, taking into account its importance for the safety of road users. In fact, knowledge about these strategic areas among drivers seems to be quite important, since this conceptualization may affect their behavior and assumed risks on the road. The main objective of this research was to assess the knowledge that drivers have on the concept of black spot and other closely related terms: “grey spot” and “high accident concentration sections”. For this study, it was used a random sample of 200 drivers from the province of Valencia (Spain), between 18 and 64 years of age. Through data analysis it was found that, while most of drivers does know the concept of black spot properly (87.5% of them), this trend is not stable when knowledge of related concepts is assessed. In regard to the further technical terms addressed by this study (grey spot and high accident concentration sections), there is an elevated relative percentage of drivers who have very biased misconceptions about these concepts. With respect to the "grey spots", in which knowledge barely reached 13% of the driving population, unfamiliarity rate increased significantly. As conclusion, in regard to the concept of “high accident concentration sections”, it was found that it is a really misunderstood, relativized and biased concept among population of drivers and, furthermore, in general, unknown to most of road users. Finally, it has been suggested that the public administrations should work to increase this knowledge, as it would allow drivers to adopt more cautious behavior when confronted with this potentially dangerous sections throughout their routes.

Published in American Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering (Volume 1, Issue 4)
DOI 10.11648/j.ajtte.20160104.11
Page(s) 39-46
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2016. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Black Spot, Grey Spot, High Accident Concentration Sections, Drivers, Traffic Accident, Road Safety

References
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[2] F. Alonso, C. Esteban, C. Calatayud, et al., “Proyecto de investigación, desarrollo e innovación para el "diseño y desarrollo de un plan integral de eliminación y erradicación de puntos negros en las carreteras de la Diputación de Valencia”. Final report. Valencia, 2011.
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[16] SWEROAD, “Black Spot Manual”. General Directorate of Highways. Ankara, 2001.
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[18] G. J. S. Wilde, “Risk homeostasis theory and traffic accidents: propositions, deductions and discussions of dissension in recent reactions”. Ergonomics, 1988, 31(4), pp. 441-468.
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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Francisco Alonso, Mónica Alonso, Cristina Esteban, Sergio A. Useche. (2016). Knowledge of the Concepts of "Black Spot", "Grey Spot" and "High Accident Concentration Sections" Among Drivers. American Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering, 1(4), 39-46. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajtte.20160104.11

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    ACS Style

    Francisco Alonso; Mónica Alonso; Cristina Esteban; Sergio A. Useche. Knowledge of the Concepts of "Black Spot", "Grey Spot" and "High Accident Concentration Sections" Among Drivers. Am. J. Traffic Transp. Eng. 2016, 1(4), 39-46. doi: 10.11648/j.ajtte.20160104.11

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    AMA Style

    Francisco Alonso, Mónica Alonso, Cristina Esteban, Sergio A. Useche. Knowledge of the Concepts of "Black Spot", "Grey Spot" and "High Accident Concentration Sections" Among Drivers. Am J Traffic Transp Eng. 2016;1(4):39-46. doi: 10.11648/j.ajtte.20160104.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ajtte.20160104.11,
      author = {Francisco Alonso and Mónica Alonso and Cristina Esteban and Sergio A. Useche},
      title = {Knowledge of the Concepts of "Black Spot", "Grey Spot" and "High Accident Concentration Sections" Among Drivers},
      journal = {American Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering},
      volume = {1},
      number = {4},
      pages = {39-46},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ajtte.20160104.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajtte.20160104.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajtte.20160104.11},
      abstract = {One of the major problems related to road injuries and deaths are the presence of Black Spots. This problem has received a growing amount of attention from road managers thorough last decades, taking into account its importance for the safety of road users. In fact, knowledge about these strategic areas among drivers seems to be quite important, since this conceptualization may affect their behavior and assumed risks on the road. The main objective of this research was to assess the knowledge that drivers have on the concept of black spot and other closely related terms: “grey spot” and “high accident concentration sections”. For this study, it was used a random sample of 200 drivers from the province of Valencia (Spain), between 18 and 64 years of age. Through data analysis it was found that, while most of drivers does know the concept of black spot properly (87.5% of them), this trend is not stable when knowledge of related concepts is assessed. In regard to the further technical terms addressed by this study (grey spot and high accident concentration sections), there is an elevated relative percentage of drivers who have very biased misconceptions about these concepts. With respect to the "grey spots", in which knowledge barely reached 13% of the driving population, unfamiliarity rate increased significantly. As conclusion, in regard to the concept of “high accident concentration sections”, it was found that it is a really misunderstood, relativized and biased concept among population of drivers and, furthermore, in general, unknown to most of road users. Finally, it has been suggested that the public administrations should work to increase this knowledge, as it would allow drivers to adopt more cautious behavior when confronted with this potentially dangerous sections throughout their routes.},
     year = {2016}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Knowledge of the Concepts of "Black Spot", "Grey Spot" and "High Accident Concentration Sections" Among Drivers
    AU  - Francisco Alonso
    AU  - Mónica Alonso
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    T2  - American Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering
    JF  - American Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering
    JO  - American Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering
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    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2578-8604
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajtte.20160104.11
    AB  - One of the major problems related to road injuries and deaths are the presence of Black Spots. This problem has received a growing amount of attention from road managers thorough last decades, taking into account its importance for the safety of road users. In fact, knowledge about these strategic areas among drivers seems to be quite important, since this conceptualization may affect their behavior and assumed risks on the road. The main objective of this research was to assess the knowledge that drivers have on the concept of black spot and other closely related terms: “grey spot” and “high accident concentration sections”. For this study, it was used a random sample of 200 drivers from the province of Valencia (Spain), between 18 and 64 years of age. Through data analysis it was found that, while most of drivers does know the concept of black spot properly (87.5% of them), this trend is not stable when knowledge of related concepts is assessed. In regard to the further technical terms addressed by this study (grey spot and high accident concentration sections), there is an elevated relative percentage of drivers who have very biased misconceptions about these concepts. With respect to the "grey spots", in which knowledge barely reached 13% of the driving population, unfamiliarity rate increased significantly. As conclusion, in regard to the concept of “high accident concentration sections”, it was found that it is a really misunderstood, relativized and biased concept among population of drivers and, furthermore, in general, unknown to most of road users. Finally, it has been suggested that the public administrations should work to increase this knowledge, as it would allow drivers to adopt more cautious behavior when confronted with this potentially dangerous sections throughout their routes.
    VL  - 1
    IS  - 4
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Author Information
  • DATS (Development and Advising in Traffic Safety) Research Group, INTRAS (University Research Institute on Traffic and Road Safety), University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain

  • MEng Civil Engineering-EQ, Department of Roads and Infrastructures, Council of Valencia, Valencia, Spain

  • DATS (Development and Advising in Traffic Safety) Research Group, INTRAS (University Research Institute on Traffic and Road Safety), University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain

  • DATS (Development and Advising in Traffic Safety) Research Group, INTRAS (University Research Institute on Traffic and Road Safety), University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain

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