VISUALIZATION OF ROAD CRASH HOT SPOTS IN KERALA USING SPATIAL STATISTICS

Road crashes have been following an increasing trend in Kerala, leading to a high death toll and financial hardship. It is essential to understand crash trends and identifying crash-prone areas for enhancing road safety. Spatial Statistics methods using Moran's I (Global and Local Moran's) and Getis-Ord Gi* were utilized in this work to analyse the crash data and pinpoint high-risk locations. Significant clustering patterns were revealed in the spatial analysis of road crashes in Kerala, suggesting that crashes especially those involving fatalities and serious injuries, were not dispersed at random. High-risk areas were observed to be clustered with statistically significant clusters at 99% and 95% confidence intervals. Hotspot analysis identified Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam, and Kollam districts as high-risk areas, especially along important road corridors such as National Highway 66, MG Road, and Kollam-Ayur Road. The results shows that the minor crashes occur at urban areas with lower vehicle speeds and high crashes occur at major highways, intersections, etc. GIS-based spatial statistics used in this work supports data- driven decision-making aimed at enhancing road safety in Kerala. Key Words: Spatial Statistics, Road Crash hot spots, Moran’s I, GIS, Kerala