The Pathology of Bus-Only Lanes in Terms of Traffic Safety (Case Study: Mashhad City)

The construction of bus-only lanes may increase the threat and risk of accidents. The purpose of the upcoming research is to identify the effective factors and the contribution of each in the occurrence of accidents on bus-only lanes. The research method in this study is statistical description. The statistics of accidents and traffic volumes used in the research were collected by referring to the Transport and Traffic Organization of Mashhad Municipality. It was related to the period of 1395 to 1400 and the passages of the BRT-3 bus-only lane (Estiqlal Square to Holy Shrine). The number of accidents was 1891 and the volume of traffic was 291985. The results of this research showed that in the mentioned period of time, based on annual comparison, with the increase in traffic, the rate of accidents has increased. Also, by comparing the accident statistics of the mentioned years and the length of the bus-only lane for each of the roads, with the increase in the length of the bus-only lane, the rate of accidents has not increased. The most recorded accidents were related to Qarani crossing with 775 cases (40.9%). The highest proportion of non-culpable accidents was related to cars with 1190 (62.9%) cases, and culpable cases were related to pedestrians with 830 (43.9%) cases.The most accidents occurred due to lack of attention to the front with 178 cases (43.5%). The effective human factor in the occurrence of accidents, which has taken a higher proportion than other human factors, has been unnecessary haste.