# Estimation of Driving Direction of Traffic Accident Vehicles for Improving Traffic Safety
###### Abstract  
Traffic accidents are widely recognized as being a significant societal disaster that causes severe human, economic, and social damage. While various factors, such as environmental, road, and human factors are commonly associated with traffic accidents, this study proposes a novel approach to consider the directionality of traffic accidents. It examines its impact on traffic safety in Chungcheongnam-do province, South Korea. Using police reports, we estimated the directionality of each accident by calculating the angle between its occurrence site and destination. Our experimental results revealed a statistically significant association between the directionality of traffic accidents and their incidence rates in Chungcheongnam-do province, with a higher frequency of accidents occurring in a Southbound direction. These findings suggest that considering the directionality of traffic accidents could enhance the effectiveness of traffic safety policies and interventions. Further research is needed to explore this approach's underlying mechanisms and potential applications. Nevertheless, this study provides important insights for policy makers and practitioners to develop targeted and practical measures for improving traffic safety. traffic safety; direction estimation; named entity recognition; visualization; Korean National Police Agency +
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that 67% were caused to human factors, 29% by road conditions, and 4% by vehicle defects. Ref. [14] analyzed the traffic accident mortality rate on roads in Selangor and Perlis states based on data from 2013 to 2017 and explained that traffic volume, physical road structure, and user concentration are the main factors leading to traffic accidents in certain areas. In another study [15], the authors explored the behavioral factors that pose a higher risk of causing severe or fatal injuries to drivers, selecting four factors related to traffic accidents: vehicle, road, environment, and human factors. In Ref. [16], the study investigated the effects of various factors on nighttime traffic accidents and identified low-light conditions as a significant factor. Specifically, the severity of nighttime vehicle accidents was found to be influenced by accident location, accident type, and the presence of median barriers. On the other hand, directionality can be considered to be one of the factors associated with traffic accidents. All roads have a Northbound and Southbound direction, and traffic accidents can be biased toward one of these directions. In cases where there is a significant disparity in the ratio of traffic accidents between two opposing directions (Northbound and Southbound) at a specific location, it can provide an opportunity to analyze the factors contributing to the difference in the number of accidents by direction. This analysis helps improve traffic accident safety by exploring additional environmental factors. In certain advanced countries, such as the United States, investigators record directional information for all traffic accidents. However, many countries, including South Korea, still do not collect data on the driving direction of traffic accident vehicles. Consequently, the absence of such data prevents the establishment of traffic policies based on the Northbound and Southbound directions of the roads. It can lead to inefficient allocation of national budgets and police resources, resulting in inefficiencies within traffic safety policies. Moreover, it may cause delays in policy-making for high-risk areas. In this study, we propose the driving direction of traffic accident vehicles as a new factor. Currently, the Korean National Police Agency (KNPA) in South Korea does not collect information on the driving direction of traffic accidents. Therefore, it is necessary to estimate the driving direction of the vehicles involved in traffic accidents using the data collected related to the directionality of traffic accidents. First, we set the latitude and longitude of the vehicle involved in the accident as the accident location.