Road and traffic experts can do their job successfully and efficiently only if they have an appropriate tool, which gives them all the data for several analyses. The results of such analyses can be the foundation for decisions in the field of road design, reconstruction and traffic safety. In this article the potentials and advantages of the Geographic Information System (GIS) in the field of traffic safety are described. The concept of a traffic safety system, data models and some prototype applications are presented. GIS can be used to store, query and analyze several types of data (road network, geometry and characteristics, traffic volumes, traffic accidents, vehicle data, man data, etc.). Through the system of data conversion programs the data for special programs for analyzing traffic accidents can be distributed. Hazardous locations and road safety measures can be identified and result in safety improvements. The results of such analyses are put back in to the GIS database and are also available in the other fields of traffic engineering. (A) The German title of this article is: ARCTRAS, Anwendung der Geographischen Information in der Verkehrssicherheitsanalyse.
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