Road Accident Prediction System: Machine Learning Safeguards Travel Safety

The Road Accident Prediction System is a real-time web application developed with Streamlit. It uses Random Forest and Support Vector Machine (SVM) algorithms, combined with environmental, vehicle, and driver conditions to predict accident severity. The system integrates real-time weather, traffic flow, and AI assistant features, providing an intelligent solution for road safety. This article will discuss aspects such as background, technical architecture, functions, and application scenarios.

Road traffic accidents are a major global public safety issue. According to World Health Organization data, approximately 1.35 million people die from road accidents each year, and tens of millions are injured. Traditional measures rely on infrastructure improvements and traffic regulations, while AI-driven predictive safety systems have become a new direction. This project uses machine learning combined with real-time data to provide accident risk warnings for drivers.

Machine Learning Models

• Random Forest: Main prediction model, robust to overfitting, can handle mixed-type data, suitable for complex accident data.
• SVM (RBF Kernel): Comparative model; subsampling is used when processing large datasets to ensure response speed.

AutoML Features

Users can upload custom CSV datasets to train new models. When no custom data is available, the default model using synthetic Indian road accident data is applied.

The system has real-time data integration capabilities:

• Automatic Positioning: Obtain user location via GPS, supporting localized risk analysis.
• Real-time Weather: Get visibility, precipitation, and other indicators via the Open-Meteo API.
• Traffic Flow: Integrate TomTom Traffic API to get real-time speed data and identify risks in congested sections.
• News Alerts: Crawl local accident news to remind users of immediate dangers.

User Authentication

• SQLite stores user information with password hash encryption, supports password reset for forgotten passwords, and administrators can view global data.

AI Assistant

Integrates Google Gemini 1.5 Flash, provides prediction explanations and data insights, reducing the black-box nature of the model.

Prediction Modes

• Manual Prediction: Input parameters to test hypothetical scenarios.
• Real-time Prediction: Use GPS to obtain real-time data to assess risks.

Application scenarios are wide-ranging:

• Personal Travel: Evaluate route risks and choose safe times and paths.
• Fleet Management: Monitor driving risks and optimize scheduling.
• Insurance Industry: Accurate risk assessment to design personalized products.
• Urban Planning: Identify high-risk sections to improve infrastructure.
• Emergency Response: Pre-position resources to shorten response time. Social Value: Use technology to protect lives and make travel safer.

Limitations

• Synthetic data may not fully reflect real complexity.
• Prediction accuracy depends on data quality and feature engineering.
• Real-time API stability affects user experience.

Future Outlook

• Introduce deep learning models.
• Integrate more data sources (cameras, vehicle sensors).
• Develop a mobile application version.