An in-Vehicle Information System Providing Accident hotspot Warnings

Accident hotspots, locations where accidents are historically concentrated, contribute significantly to road traffic accidents being the leading cause of death by injury. A notable improvement in driver safety can be achieved through warnings of known upcoming hazardous features. However, as installing and maintaining traditional road sign infrastructure can be costly, warnings on accident hotspots are not typically available. This paper presents an in-vehicle information system prototype which provides warnings of upcoming accident hotspots based initially on historic data. Additionally, significant research has focused on the identification, analysis and treatment of these accident hotspots. However, a true picture of road safety can be hard to achieve as many traffic accidents go unreported. Information on near-miss events, such as heavy braking or taking evasive action to avoid an accident, could help identify and provide life saving insights into hazardous areas before an accident occurs. The prototype therefore additionally collects vehicle data in order to learn characteristics of accident hotspots and identify near-miss events, in order to improve the system and provide new insights.