Citation

Jamal A, Rahman MT, Al-Ahmadi HM, Mansoor U. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020; 17(1): e17010157.

Affiliation

Department of Civil Engineering, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, KFUPM Box 655, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, MDPI: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute)

DOI

10.3390/ijerph17010157

PMID

31878293

Abstract

Road traffic crashes (RTCs) are one of the most critical public health problems worldwide. The WHO Global Status Report on Road Safety suggests that the annual fatality rate (per 100,000 people) due to RTCs in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has increased from 17.4 to 27.4 over the last decade, which is an alarming situation. This paper presents an overview of RTCs in the Eastern Province, KSA, from 2009 to 2016. Key descriptive statistics for spatial and temporal distribution of crashes are presented. Statistics from the present study suggest that the year 2012 witnessed the highest number of crashes, and that the region Al-Ahsa had a significantly higher proportion of total crashes. It was concluded that the fatality rate for the province was 25.6, and the mean accident to injury ratio was 8:4. These numbers are substantially higher compared to developed countries and the neighboring Gulf states. Spatial distribution of crashes indicated that a large proportion of severe crashes occurred outside the city centers along urban highways. Logistic regression models were developed to predict crash severity. Model estimation analysis revealed that crash severity can be attributed to several significant factors including driver attributes (such as sleep, distraction, overspeeding), crash characteristics (such as sudden deviation from the lane, or collisions with other moving vehicles, road fences, pedestrians, or motorcyclists), and rainy weather conditions. After critical analysis of existing safety and infrastructure situations, various suitable crash prevention and mitigation strategies, for example, traffic enforcement, traffic calming measures, safety education programs, and coordination of key stakeholders, have been proposed.

Language: en

Keywords

GIS; Saudi Arabia; logistic regression; prevention and mitigation strategies; road safety; traffic crashes