A black spot treatment program is one type of safety improvement program that can deal with accident occurrences reactively. However, implementation of such program requires relevant accident data, which are normally unavailable or limited in developing countries. Thus, this paper proposes a supportive approach (public participation approach) to overcome this hindrance. The objective is to demonstrate how a public participation approach can be used to assist in identifying black spot locations through the framework of an Accident Public Participation Program (APPP). The real world applications of such a program are presented through a selected case study in Khon Kaen City, Thailand. By contrasting the findings obtained from the proposed framework with those obtained from the classical approach in this field, feasibility, validity, and effectiveness of the program are revealed. The findings indicate statistically significant agreements between the two datasets. This implies that residence can identify locations where accidents occurrences are unusually high and their input is potentially useful for the identification process. In addition, besides the indirect benefits to creating public awareness, the proposed methodology is potentially useful as a means for both speeding up and economizing the black spot locations identification process. The paper is unique because the merits of several professionals in fields such as social science, engineering, and medicine are harmonized to achieve success in a safety improvement program. (Author/publisher).
Abstract