Presentation of Analytical Methods for Better Decision Making about the Most Important Factor Influencing Rural Accidents

Due to population growth and the increasing number of vehicles on rural roads, traffic accidents have become one of the most important problems in the transportation system, which greatly affects the social and economic situation of the people. The main purpose of this study was to apply the analytical method to investigate the factors affecting the severity of traffic accidents on rural roads of Guilan, Iran, in order to determine the most effective factor in the occurrence of these accidents. At first, the frequency analysis was used to evaluate the variables and their frequency, then the Friedman test (FT) was applied to prioritize the factors, and the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was used to determine the most effective factor in the occurrence of vehicle accidents in Guilan rural roads. Based on the FT, weather condition was the most important factor effective in these accidents. According to the results of the EFA, five factors were identified as the main factors involved in accidents in which the first factor contributing to accidents was the environmental factor, including weather condition and road surface condition. This indicates that concurrent result of the FT and the EFA, weather condition as an environmental factor, was identified as the most important factor affecting vehicle accidents on rural roads of Guilan. Finally, safety strategies were proposed to increase safety and reduce accidents along these roads.