*Article* **Diagnosis on Transport Risk Based on a Combined Assessment of Road Accidents and Watershed Vulnerability to Spills of Hazardous Substances**

**Emerson Ribeiro Machado 1, Renato Farias do Valle Junior 1, Teresa Cristina Tarlé Pissarra 2, Hygor Evangelista Siqueira 2, Luís Filipe Sanches Fernandes 3 and FernandoAntónioLealPacheco 4,\***


Received: 13 August 2018; Accepted: 9 September 2018; Published: 14 September 2018

**Abstract:** Roads play an important role in the economic development of cities and regions, but the transport of cargo along highways may represent a serious environmental problem because a large portion of transported goods is composed of dangerous products. In this context, the development and validation of risk managemen<sup>t</sup> tools becomes extremely important to support the decision-making of people and agencies responsible for the managemen<sup>t</sup> of road enterprises. In the present study, a method for determination of environmental vulnerability to road spills of hazardous substances is coupled with accident occurrence data in a highway, with the purpose to achieve a diagnosis on soil and water contamination risk and propose prevention measures and emergency alerts. The data on accident occurrences involving hazardous and potentially harmful products refer to the highway BR 050, namely the segmen<sup>t</sup> between the Brazilian municipalities of Uberaba and Uberlândia. The results show that many accidents occurred where vulnerability is high, especially in the southern sector of the segment, justifying the implementation of prevention and alert systems. The coupling of vulnerability and road accident data in a geographic information system proved efficient in the preparation of quick risk managemen<sup>t</sup> maps, which are essential for alert systems and immediate environmental protection. Overall, the present study contributes with an example on how the managemen<sup>t</sup> of risk can be conducted in practice when the transport of dangerous substances along roads is the focus problem.

**Keywords:** environmental vulnerability; multi-criteria spatial analysis; risk managemen<sup>t</sup> tool; hazardous substance; road accidents
