Citation

Shaaban K, Siam A, Badran A. Transp. Res. Proc. 2021; 55: 1689-1695.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, Elsevier Publications)

DOI

10.1016/j.trpro.2021.07.160

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Traffic safety is a major public health concern in Qatar, a developing country in the Middle East. The purpose of this study was to investigate the characteristics of traffic violations and crashes in Qatar, identify their trends, and describe the patterns for different demographic groups during the period from 2005 to 2015. The analysis showed that the number of crashes and violations is increasing with the huge increase in population during the same period. On the other hand, the number of fatalities per 100,000 population is decreasing. The main cause of violations was exceeding the speed limit while the main contributing cause of crashes was careless driving. Male drivers, passengers, and pedestrians were more involved in severe crashes compared to other groups. Male drivers between the age of 20 and 29 years had the highest rate of fatalities among all groups. Although significant improvements in road safety were made during recent years and were reflected in the decrease of the number of fatalities per 100,000 population, more efforts are needed to decrease the number of violations and crashes. The data collection process was difficult since it involved multiple public agencies and ministries. This is a common challenge in developing countries. Therefore, it is recommended that public authorities establish a crash database system that includes detailed traffic safety data to fill the gap in the availability of traffic safety data and to provide enough information for the relevant entities to study traffic safety and develop countermeasures.

Language: en

Keywords

developing countries; fatalities; traffic crashes; traffic injuries; traffic violations