Authors

• Debapriya Karmakar, M. Phil. Student, Centre for the Study of Regional Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
• Koel Roychowdhury, Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, Presidency University, Kolkata

Road traffic accidents (RTA) are one of the most common causes of deaths and disabilities in the world. Kolkata ranks significantly high in the list of the most accident-prone cities of the country. The present study examines the severity of road accidents in Kolkata and the causes behind the same. The assessment of accident incidences in the city has been carried out using the Weighted Severity Index, Principal Component Analysis and Hotspot Analysis. Identification of the key accident-prone locations through the Analytic Hierarchy Process marks out several intersections as sufficiently risky. Roads such as Eastern Metropolitan Bypass, Diamond Harbour Road, AJC Bose Road and Circular Garden Reach Road rank high in terms of accident severity. Further, the grid pattern of the roads characterised by numerous adjacent branch roads was shown to be a catalyst for most of the traffic accidents in Kolkata. These and other factors such as ignorant behaviour of all types of city road users and vehicular mixture are compounded by unfriendly road infrastructures, thereby rendering the already limited road space in Kolkata extremely vulnerable to accidents.