Department of
Mathematics and Statistics,
College of
Science, Sultan Qaboos University,
P.O.
Box 36, PC 123, Al Khoud, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman.
Journal of
Emerging Trends in Economics and Management Sciences (JETEMS) 3(6): 907-914
©
Scholarlink Research Institute Journals, 2012 (ISSN: 2141-7024)
Oman Country
Oman, officially called the Sultanate of Oman, is an Arab state in southwest Asia on the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It has a strategically important position at the mouth of the Persian Gulf. from Wikipedia.com
Capital: Muscat
Currency: Omani rial
Sultan: Qaboos bin Said Al Said of Oman
Continent: Asia
Colleges and Universities: Sultan Qaboos University, more
Abstract
With the rapid
economic growth, modernization and infrastructure development over the last
four decades, there has been massive increase in automobile usages and car
ownership in the Sultanate of Oman, and road traffic accident (RTA) emerged as
a serious public health problem. There is a dearth of literature on
motorization problem in Oman owing to paucity and limited access to data in the
past. This is an exploratory study, presenting a profile of recent growth
trends of motorization and the pattern of related road traffic accidents in
Oman. The study is likely to establish the baseline facts about the
transportation system and RTA problems in Oman. Data for the study come from
Royal Oman Police (ROP) record and World Health Organization (WHO) report for
international comparison. On the average there are 230 vehicles per 1,000
population in Oman, which is higher than many middle income countries. Motorization
level shows increasing trends in Oman, and between 2000 and 2009, it has
increased by 26%. Private car and shared taxi services are the major modes of
personal transport in Oman. In 2009, there were 2.67 accidents per 1,000
population or 9.59 accidents per 1,000 registered vehicles in Oman. RTA shows
declining trends during the study period. About 70% of the accidents are due to
collision: 48% with other vehicles and 22% with fixed objects. Young drivers
over represents accident cases in Oman, as 70% of the RTAs happened to drivers
aged 17-36 years. Excessive speeding is the main cause of road traffic accident
(50%), followed by negligence or careless driving (29%). About 98% of the RTAs
are related to human factors. Effective road transportation planning, and
traffic safety programme, particularly speed monitoring system, need to be
strengthened. The findings of the study may have important policy implications
for transport and road safety planning in Oman.
________________________________________________________________________________________
Keywords:
road
traffic accidents (RTA), motorization, road crashes, Oman.
INTRODUCTION
The Sultanate of
Oman is an oil rich Arabian Gulf country. The discovery of oil and gas and
subsequently the booms in oil prices since the middle of the 20th century has
changed the economy and life style of the people of Arabian Gulf countries
including Oman, as the gross domestic product (GDP) and the per capita income
grew rapidly in these countries (Bener et al., 1994; El-Sadig et.al.,
2002). The country is considered as a middle income country with per capita
income $13,343 (MoNE, 2010). Prior to the commercial exploitation of oil in
late 1960s, the economy of Oman consisted of subsistence agriculture and
fishing. Social and economic infrastructure was almost non-existent. By late
1980s, Oman has been transformed into a modern state with all modern facilities
and infrastructures. The standard of living improved enormously since the
mid-1980s. In Oman, urbanization occurred in a rapid phase, changing the spatial
distribution of the population with intensive migration from rural to urban
areas and from interior to more developed areas. Road construction programmes
have increased in parallel with other development programmes in Oman. For
example, in 1960s Oman had only 10 kilometer paved road (Al-Ismaily and Probert
1998), which increased to more than 25,000 kilometers in 2009 (MoNE, 2010). The
result has been a large increase in the number of automobiles usage and car
ownership in Oman.
Consequently,
there has been a massive increase in road traffic accident (RTA) with
casualties and fatalities creating a serious public health problem. RTA not
only bring immeasurable amount of human sufferings, but also incur huge
economic and social costs in Oman. According to official reports of the
Ministry of Health (MoH) in Oman, RTA problem is the number one cause of
inpatient deaths and the leading cause of serious injury, disability and
premature death among adults (MoH, 2009). The World Health Organization (WHO)
has ranked Oman at fourth place in the Arabian Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC)
states and 57th worldwide as far as the occurrence of traffic accidents and
resulting injuries and deaths are concerned (WHO, 2009). Hence, the problem constitutes
a major concern for Public Health and a sizeable burden to Oman’s health care
resources. In most developed countries, the problem of RTAs has attracted
increasing research and safety interventions resulting in a reduction of the
size of the problem in many of these countries (Lawrence et al.,
1992; Elvik,, 1995; Wayatt et al., 1996; DiGuiseppi et al., 1997;
Vägverket, 2006). However, despite the fact that Oman has a higher rate of RTA,
yet very little has been done to establish the baseline facts about the
problem. There is a dearth of literature about motorization, and road traffic
accident and its causality in Oman. To our knowledge, no comprehensive work has
been undertaken on level trends and determinants of road traffic accident and its
causality in Oman owing to paucity of data in the past. However, the routine
data collected by the Royal Oman Police (ROP) in recent time allows us to fill
this gap and improve our understanding of the RTA and its causality in Oman.
Thus, the objective
of this paper is
to provide an overview of the growth of motor vehicle and analyze the pattern
of road traffic accident in Oman, using the routinely collected time series
data by ROP during the period 2000-2009. The study is likely to establish the
baseline facts about the RTA problems in Oman. The findings of the study may
have important policy implications for transport and road safety planning in
Oman and elsewhere with similar situation.
MATERIALS AND
METHODS
The study is
based on data obtained from the Royal Oman Police (ROP). The Directorate
General of Traffic (DGT) of ROP is the sole authority to record, analyze and
publish all data related to traffic accidents in Oman. Reporting of RTAs
related data by ROP is thought to be of high coverage, because of enforcement
of a law that car insurance companies,
garages or
repair establishments could not accept a vehicle involved in an accident for
insurance claim and repair if a police report is not produced. Similar traffic
law exist in other Arabian Gulf countries (El-Sadig et al., 2002; Ziyad and
Akhtar, 2011). Nevertheless, the true number of RTA and related fatality and
injury are likely to be higher in Oman than it is reported by ROP, as it omit
the accident cases that results in minor damage, injury or causality and
overlook minor self accidents or the accidents cases that are settled by the
parties mutually at the scene. RTAs are defined to include all traffic related accidents
that result in injury or death to road users. RTA injuries are defined to include
all traffic related non-fatal injuries, while RTA fatalities are defined to include
all traffic-related deaths that occur within 30 days from the accident.
Population denominator data were obtained from the published population census reports
and the inter census population estimates were obtained based on the enumerated
population of 1993, 2003 and 2010 population census in Oman.
The data for
global comparison were obtained from the WHO Reports (2009).
RESULTS
Levels and
Trends of Automobiles Usage in Oman
Table 1 shows
the growth of population and the growth of automobiles in Oman during the
10-year study period 2000-2009. It can be seen that there has been massive
increase in the number of automobiles compared to population increase during
the period 2000 to 2009. Between 2000 and 2009, the population of Oman
increased by 21.6%, with the mean annual increase by about 2.0%. On the other hand,
the automobile fleet in the country increased by 52.4%, with a mean annual
increase by 4.3% between 2000 and 2009. At the same period, the new registration
of automobile increased by 161%, with a mean annual increase by 10%. The most
remarkable increase in new registration of automobiles occurred during
2006-2008 period. During this period, the number of new registration jumped to
five digit number. For example, the number of vehicles in 2006 was 548,908, and
80,762 vehicles were added during 2007, taking the total at the end of the year
to 629,670. After 2008, new registration shows gradual decrease. On average, more
than 85,000 new vehicles were registered annually in Oman between the years 2000
and 2009 (Table 1).
Motorization
level, as measured by the number of vehicle per 1000 population, shows that on
average
there are 230
vehicles per 1000 population in Oman. The 2010 population census in Oman
recorded
551,058
households in Oman. Thus, there is approximately 1.3 vehicles per household in
Oman.
Over
all, motorization shows increasing trends in Oman. Between 2000 and 2009,
motorization level increased by 25.7%. Figure 1 presents a comparative picture
of the level of motorization (number of vehicle per 1000 population) in some
selected high and middle income countries including Oman in 2007. The
information were obtained from the 2009 WHO’s global status report on road
safety (WHO, 2009). It appears that Finland has the highest level of
motorization (882 vehicle per 1000 population) closely followed by the USA (822
vehicle per 1000 population). Oman has a motorization level (244 vehicles per
1000 population) higher than many middle income countries, but lowers than the
other Arab Gulf countries. Forexample, in 2007 there were 299, 401, 479 and 509
vehicles per 1000 population, respectively, in Saudi
Arabia,
UAE, Kuwait and Bahrain (Figure 1).
Figure
1: Level of motorization (number of vehicle per 1000 population) in some
selected high and middle income countries including Oman in 2007 With the
absence of a railway network or water-ways in Oman, roads remain the primary
means for transporting goods and people within the country. There is no public
or private bus service within the city or suburban area. However, there are
limited intercity bus services, run by a single agency called
“Oman
National Transport Company” (ONTC). Shared private taxi services are also available
within the city and town areas. Thus, private car and Taxi service are the
major modes of personal transport in Oman. As a result, the most of the
registered vehicle in Oman are private car which numbers have increased
tremendously in recent time. Figure 2 shows the percentage distribution of
registered vehicles by types of registration in 2009. The data indicate that
private car represents the major share of the registered vehicles, as 70% of
the registered vehicles are private cars, followed by commercially used
vehicles (21%), Taxi (4%), government use (2%), rental (1.3%) and others (each
1.7%). The ratio of number of private cars and the number of households
indicates that there is almost one private car per household in Oman (0.96:1).
Figure
2: Percentage distribution of registered vehicles by types of registration,
2009 Figure 3 shows the trends in the number of registered vehicles by types of
licence for the 10-year period starting from 2000 to 2009. During this period
the
number
of registered vehicles increased, on the average, by 4.3% per annum. This
increase is mainly due to increase in private cars and commercially used cars.
Private cars are increasing annually, on the average, by 7%, while commercially
used cars are increasing by 2.7% per annum. On the other hand, the number of
Taxi, government own vehicles and other
types
of vehicles remains almost same over the period. The possession of private cars
shows steady increase over the period. The growth rate was highest during
2007-2008 (15%). The rate of possession of private car per 1000 population
increased from 126 in 2000 to 195 in 2009. Globally, Oman’s rank is 52 in terms
of car possession per 1000 population, with highest in USA (765 cars 1000
population) (WHO, 2009).
Figure
3 Trends in the number of registered vehicles by types of licence, 2000-2009
Levels
and Trends in Road Traffic Accidents
(RTAs)
in Oman
According
to the 2000 National Health Survey in Oman (Al Riyami et al., 2000), conducted
by the
Ministry
of Health, road traffic accident (RTA) is the number one cause of accident and
injury in Oman accounting for 61 % of the total accident (Table 2). Other
important causes of accident are accidental fall (22 %), burns (4.8%), bullet
accident (1.8%) and food poisoning (1.2%). Males are 1.5 times more likely to experience
RTA than female, while the rate of accidental fall, burns, and food poisoning
are higher among females. Table 2: Percent distribution of accident and injury
by
causes according to sex, Oman 2000.
Source:
Oman National Health Survey, 2000:
Volume
1, p136, Al-Riyami et al., (2000) Data in Table 3 shows the levels and trends
of RTA in Oman during the first decade of the new millennium (2000-2009),
according to the ROP data source. In absolute term there were 7,253 traffic accidents
in 2009 against 2.7 million population and 755, 937 registered vehicles,
indicating a rate of 2.67 accident per 1000 population or 9.59 accident per 1000
registered vehicles.
As
may be seen from Table 3 and Figure 4 that there is an appreciable decline in
RTA rates in Oman. The number of accidents fell down from 13,040 cases in 2000
to 7,253 in 2009, a drop of 44% over the period 2000-2009 or a decline of 5.7%
per annum. During the same period, the overall decrease in accident rate was
54% for per 1000 population and 63.5% for per 1000 vehicles. The corresponding
figures for average annual decrease being 7.5% and 9.6%, respectively. This
fall in accident has occurred despite the fact that the number of vehicles on
the roads and new driving licenses as well as the population increased over the
period. This may be a consequence of the traffic safety efforts of ROP by
imposing stringent conditions for issuing license and road safety information,
education and communication (IEC)
programmes
through mass media.
Types
of RTAs in Oman
Table
4 shows the distribution of RTA in Oman in 2009 by the types and severity. The
types of RTA were categorized as collusion with other vehicles, collusion with
fixed objects, overturn and run over pedestrians. It can be seen that about 70%
of the accidents are due to collision: 48% with other vehicles and 22% with
fixed objects. Sixteen percent of the accidents were due to overturn and 14%
were due to run over the pedestrians. The distribution of RTA by the type of severity
indicate that nearly two third (64%) of the RTA caused injury, while 10.5% caused
fatality and the rest 26% were with minor or no causality (Table 4).
Figure
4: Trends in rate of RTA per 1000 population and per 1000 registered vehicles
in Oman, 2000-2009
Table
4: Percent distribution of RTA by characteristics, 2009
Characteristics
Number Percent
Severity
Fatal
Accident 760 10.48
Injury
Accident 4618 63.67
Minor
or no causality 1875 25.85
Types
Collision
with vehicle 3485 48.05
Collision
with fixed objects 1560 21.51
Overturn
1190 16.41
Run
over pedestrians 1018 14.04
Total
7253 100.00
RTA
by Age of Drivers
Age
of the drivers involved with RTA shows negative association with the RTA in
Oman. Distribution of the accident by drivers age indicate that young drivers
are more likely to be involved with accidents than their older counterparts, as
70% of the accident happened to drivers aged 17-36 years. The proportion of
accident declined with the age of the drivers (Table 5).
Table
5: Percent Distribution of drivers involved with accidents by age, Oman 2009
Driver
age* Number of RTA Percent
17-26
2543 39.93
27-36
1942 30.49
37-46
1007 15.81
47-56
577 9.06
57+
300 4.71
Total
6369 100.00
*Age
of drivers was missing for 884 RTA cases, the distribution presents the
remaining 6369 cases
Timing
of occurrence of RTA
Table
6 presents the distribution of RTA by time of occurrence. Overall, accident
happened more during day time (59%) than night time (41%) and most RTA incident
occurred between 9.00 hours and 20.00 hours time. About two-third (66.5%) of
the road accidents in Oman in 2009 happened during 9.00 - 20.00 hours time.
Thus, 9.00-16.00 hours of the day time and 17.00-20.00 hours of the night time
are the pick hours of occurrence of RTA incidence in Oman, while traffic
accidents are less likely to occur during 1-8 hours of the night time in Oman.
Among the weekdays, Thursday shows the highest frequency of occurrence of road
traffic accident, while Friday and Sunday the least.
Table
6 Percent distribution of RTA by timing of occurrence, Oman 2009
Timing
of RTA Number Percent
Time
of the day
Day
time 4278 58.98
Night
time 2975 41.02
Time
(hours) of occurrence
1-4
629 8.67
5-8
742 10.23
9-12
1641 22.63
13-16
1551 21.38
17-20
1629 22.45
21-24
1061 14.63
Week
days
Saturday
1040 14.34
Sunday
977 13.47
Monday
1020 14.06
Tuesday
1048 14.45
Wednesday
1024 14.12
Thursday
1158 15.97
Friday
986 13.59
Total
7253 100.00
Causes
of Road Traffic Accidents
Table
7 shows the distribution of RTAs by causes of accidents during 2000-2009 in
Oman. It may be seen that speeding appeared as the main cause of road traffic
accident in Oman, since as many as half (50%) of the accident occurred due to
high speeding. Negligence or careless driving is the second most important
causes of accident, accounting 29% of the accidents, followed by lack of
control of the driver (9%), unsafe distance (3.8%) and overtaking (3%). Although,
drink driving is one of the major causes of road traffic accident in many
countries, particularly in the West, it shows a very little effect (1.4%) on
road traffic accidents in Oman. However, the result is not surprising for Oman,
because under the Islamic law, the sale and consumption of alcohol is
prohibited in the Sultanate, and the penalty for this offense is also very
severe. All the aforementioned causes are human factors. It is seen that only
2% cases road accident happened othe than human related causes, such as,
vehicle defects, road defects or weather condition, and 98% cases road accident
happened due to human related causes. The result is consistent with the recent
studies that documented that human actions are sole or a contributory factor
for 90-95% of traffic crashes (Lewin, 1982; Rumar, 1985; Evans, 1991; Elander et
al., 1993).
Table
7: Distribution of accident by causes of accident, Oman (200-2009)
Causes
of accident* 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 Total
Speeding
31.72 53.06 60.62 59.31 51.62 50.94
Negligence
57.90 36.97 23.80 11.55 8.48 29.28
Fatigue
0.12 0.03 0.15 0.16 0.25 0.13
Drink-Driving
0.85 0.77 1.05 2.09 2.37 1.36
Overtaking
1.71 1.67 2.20 5.25 5.16 3.03
Weather
Condition 0.14 0.25 0.58 0.45 1.79 0.59
Sudden
Stop 0.04 0.11 0.41 0.88 1.17 0.48
Unsafe
Distance 4.48 3.55 3.05 4.74 3.31 3.82
Lack
of Control 1.94 2.66 6.51 13.33 22.60 8.62
Vehicle
Defects 0.98 0.81 1.45 1.93 2.45 1.46
Road
Defects 0.12 0.11 0.18 0.31 0.80 0.28
Total
100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
*
Data were available for 2005-2009 from ROP source
Table
7 also presents the trends in different causes of road traffic accidents over
the period 2005 to 2009. It is to be noted that despite law against consumption
of alcohol, the proportion of road accident attributed to drink-driving shows
increasing trends in Oman over the period. For example, the proportion of
traffic accident related to drink-driving increased from less than one percent
in 2005 to more than 2% in 2009. It is encouraging to note that excess speed
and negligence, the two main causes of road traffic accident in Oman, show
declining trends over the period 2000-2005. However, some other important causes
of road traffic accident, such as, lack of driver’s control and over taking
show increasing trends over the years. Among the non-human factors, the
proportion of road traffic accident shows increasing trends for vehicle defects.
DISCUSSION
The
findings of this study indicate that the growth of automobile is faster than
the growth of the Omani population. It has been observed that during the 10 year
study period from 2000 to 2009, the population of Oman increased by about 2.0%
per annum, while the automobile fleet in the country increased by 4.3% per
annum. At the same period, the new registration of automobile increased by 10%
per annum. On the average there are 230 vehicles per 1,000 populations in Oman,
which is higher than many middle income countries, but lower than the other Arab
Gulf countries. The level of automobiles usage shows increasing trends in Oman,
and between 2000 and 2009, it has increased by 26%. In the absence of railway
network, water-ways or bus services within the city or suburban area, private
car and shared private taxi services are the major modes of personal transport
in Oman. The data indicate that private car represents 70% of the registered
vehicles in Oman. The rate of possession of private car per 1,000 population
increased from 126 in 2000 to 195 in 2009. While unavailability of public or
private bus communication system causes inconvenience to general public, the
excessive dependence on private cars leads to heavy traffic, a large number of accidents,
degradation of urban environment and high individual expenditure on transport
(Belwal and Belwal 2010). In recent time, all the big cities, particularly
Muscat, the capital city of the country, increasingly experiencing heavy
traffic congestion due to excessive dependence on private car and shared taxi
services in the absence of bus or rail communication. Other Gulf countries are
also facing similar problems due to the rapid growth in private vehicle
ownership, and have introduced public bus transportation in major urban cities
in a limited scale. In Oman, public bus service or bus service in general is
not the preferred choice of transport for the citizens. Buses are often
considered to be a low status, foreign mode of transport for the underprivileged
(Al Ismaily and Probert, 1998). Even among those with no private cars, buses
are considered to be inappropriate to the needs of ordinary citizens and
inconvenient. On the behavioral side, people are basically addicted to using
their private cars, while cars for some are a distinct social status symbol.
Women folk are less willing to adopt public transport, as they feel more
comfortable and secure in their personal cars (Belwal and Belwal, 2010).
Besides, because of very hot temperature which ranges from 40-50 degrees
Celsius for almost six months, starting from March to August, it is difficult
for the people to wait for buses on the road. Another factor is the low density
of the population and the population is scattered unevenly in different regions,
which imposes a serious challenge to transport planners in offering specific
solution for a particular region (Al Ismaily and Probert, 1998). As a result,
there is no much demand from general public for introduction of bus services,
and the government in Oman will also be reluctant to subsidies public transport,
especially if a significant proportion of the passengers using the service are
not Omani citizens. It is encouraging to note that the rate of RTA shows an
appreciable decline in Oman during the 10-year study period between 2000 and
2009, despite the fact that the number of vehicles on the roads and new driving
licenses as well as the population increased over the study period. The number
of accidents fell down from 13,040 cases in 2000 to 7,253 in 2009, a drop of
44% over the period 2000-2009 or a decline of 5.7% per annum. As regard the type of accident, about 70% of
the accidents are due to collision: 48% with other vehicles and 22% with fixed
objects. Sixteen percent of the accidents were due to overturn and 14% were due
to run-over the pedestrians. The distribution of RTA by the type of severity
indicate that nearly twothird
(64%)
of the RTA caused injury, while 10% caused fatality and the rest 26% were with
minor or no causality.Young drivers over represents accident cases in Oman, as
70% of the road traffic accidents happened
to drivers aged 17-36 years. The overrepresentation of youths in crashes
involving casualties is a significant public health issue in most countries (Williams,
2003; Ivers et al., 2009). It is, therefore, crucial to understand the young
novice drivers' risky driving behaviors and risk perceptions, and take appropriate
action to improve the situation in Oman.
Overall,
accident happened more during day time (59%) than night time (41%) and most RTA
incident occurred between 9.00 and16.00 hours of the day time and 17.00 and
20.00 hours of the night time. Among the weekdays, Thursday, which is weekly holiday
in Oman, shows the highest frequency of occurrence of road traffic accident. The
study results indicate that excessive speeding is the main cause of road
traffic accident in Oman. About half (50%) of the total road traffic accidents
in Oman is due to speeding followed by negligence or careless driving (29%).
Among other causes of RTA, lack of control of the drivers (9%), driving with unsafe
distance (3.8%) and overtaking (3%) are important. Drink-driving contribute
very little (1.4%) to traffic accident in Oman, due to Islamic law restricting
the sale and consumption of alcohol in Oman. The study findings indicate that
about 98% of the RTAs are related to human factors which are preventable. The
result is consistent with other research findings. According to the 2009
‘global status report on road safety’, 62% of the countries have speed limit on
urban roads less than or equal to 50 km/h, 29% of the countries have speed
limit 51-70
km./h,
6% have 71-90 km/h and only 2% countries (mostly the Arabian Gulf countries)
have speed limit more than 90 km/h (WHO, 2009). It also shows that Oman is the
single country with maximum speed limit of 120 km/h in urban roads. Among other
Arab gulf countries, the maximum speed limit in urban roads are 50 km/h in
Bahrain, 60 km/h in UAE, 80 km/h in Saudi Arabia, 100 km/h in Qatar, and 100 km/h
in Iraq. Research on effective speed management indicates that the speed limits
on urban road should not exceed 50 km/h (Transport Research Centre (Transport
Research Centre, 2006). Many countries with good safety records have adopted
this recommendation, authorizing local level authority to reduce the national
level speed limit (WHO, 2009). A 5% increase in average speed leads to an approximately
10% increase in crashes that causes injuries, and a 20% increase in fatal
crashes. Apart from reducing road traffic injuries and deaths, lowering the
average traffic speed can have other positive effects on Heath (Transport
Research Centre,
2006).
Since
the late 1990s Oman has developed an excellent
roadway network, due to the sizeable expenditure on this sector. Most of the roads
are now dual carriage roads, lighted up properly at night, well equipped with
traffic signs and signals. Moreover, many safety interventions were made to
curb RTAs including the enforcement of speed limits, by speed radar systems,
provision of median barriers, steel guard rails along road edges, traffic
safety awareness campaigns, etc. All these improvement may have impact on
declining trends in the rate of RTA in Oman. The declining trends in the rates
of RTA may also partly be related to the changing denominators of the rate, as
both the population and automobile usages are increasing over the study period.
The main limitation of this research is its limited data source. As the study
is mainly based on secondary data from ROP, it was not possible to do cause and
effect analysis using statistical model to uncover the underlying reasons for
high rate of RTA in Oman. The results of the study need to be interpreted with caution
as they are likely to be under estimated due to underreporting of traffic events
in ROP source. However, there is no systematic effort to investigate the
consistency of ROP data, for instance by conducting parallel studies on
accident occurrence, hospital data and overall mortality statistics. To collect
accurate and consistent data over the years, ROP personnel should be trained to
complete the data form accurately and collect proper data.
CONCLUSION
The
rapid growth of automobile-oriented culture in Oman without proper education
and awareness building about the risk of traffic accident among the road users,
and lack of strict driving license policy could be the possible reasons for
increasing RTA and RTA-related fatalities in Oman. Information, education and
communication (IEC) campaign to raise awareness about the seriousness of road
traffic crashes among the road users, along traffic week, and effective
implementation of road safety measures may help reduce the tragedy of RTA in
Oman. Further research is needed to identify the root causes of increasing RTA
and RTA-related fatalities in Oman. The ROP data collection system also needs
to be evaluated and modernized. Oman needs a sustainable transport policy to
reduce the traffic volume and its sever
consequences. But the prospect of introduction bus services, public or private,
in Oman is very slim in the near future, because of the perception and negative
attitude of the common people towards bus services, as well as cultural and
environmental factors.
REFERENCES
Al-Ismaily,
H.A., and Probert, D. 1998. Transport policy in Oman, Applied Energy, 61,
79-109.
Al-Riyami,
A., Afifi, M., Al-Kharusi, H., Morsi, M., 2000. National Health Survey, 2000.
Vol. 1, Study of life style risk factors. Muscat (Oman): Ministry of Health.
Belwal,
R., and Belwal, S. 2010. Public Transportation Services in Oman: A Study of
Public Perceptions, Journal of Public Transportation, 13, 1-21.
Bener,
A., Breger, A.S. and Al-Falasi, A.S., 1994. Risk taking behaviour in road
traffic accidents.
Journal
of Traffic Medication, 23, 65–70.
DiGuiseppi,
C., Rosman, D.I., and Li, L. 1997. Influence of changing travel patterns on
child death rates from injury: trend analysis. BMJ 314, 710–713.
El-Sadig,
M., Norman, J.N., Lloyd, O.L., Romilly, P., and Bener, A., 2002. Road traffic
accidents in the United Arab Emirates: trends of morbidity and mortality during
1977–1998. Accident Analysis and Prevention 34, 465–476
Elvik,
R., 1995. Analysis of official economic valuations of traffic accidents
fatalities in 20 motorised countries. Accident Analysis and Prevention 27,
237–247.
Han,
S. S., 2010. Managing motorization in sustainable transport planning: the
Singapore experience. Journal of Transport Geography, 18, 314–321
Ivers,
R., Senserrick, T., Boufous, S., Stevenson, M., and Chen, H., 2009. Novice
driver’s risky driving behaviour, risk perception, and crash risk: Findings from
the DRIVE study. American Journal of Public
Health,
99(9), 1638-1644.
Koushki,
P.A., and Balghunaim, F.A., 1990. Determination and analysis of unreported road
accidents in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Journal of Engineering Sciences (King Saud
University), 2.
Lawrence,
J., Blincoe, J., and Barbara, M.F., 1992. The economic cost of motor vehicle
crashes. DOT HS 807 (876), I.1–I.14
Lave,
C., 1992. Cars and Demographics. University of California Transportation
Center, 108 Naval Architecture Building, Berkley.
Ministry
of Health (MoH), 2009. Annual Health Report 2008. Muscat (Oman): Ministry
of
Health.
Ministry
of National Economy (MoNE), 2010. Statistical Year Book 2010, Issue 38, Number
2010. Muscat (Oman): MoNE. www.mone.gov.om
Royal
Oman Police (ROP), 2009. Traffic Statistics 2009. Sultanate of Oman:
Directorate General of Traffic, ROP.
Transport
Research Centre, 2006. Speed management report. Paris: OECD publishing.
United
Nation, 2011. United National World population prospects: 2011 Revision
Vägverket,
2006. Variabel hastighet i korsningar. Tillämpningsrapport. Variable speed
limit at intersections. Application report. In Swedish, English summary. Publ
2006:141
Wayatt,
J.P., Beard, D., Gray, A., Busuttil, A., and Robertson, C.E., 1996. Rates,
causes and prevention
of
deaths from injuries in South-East Scotland. Injury 27, 337–340.
Williams,
A.F., 2003. Teenage drivers: patterns of risk. Journal of Safety Research, 34,
5-15.
World
Health Organization (WHO), 2009. Global status report on road safety: Time for
action, Department of Violence & Injury Prevention & Disability. WHO,
Geneva, Switzerland. www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention_safety/2009 World
Health Organization (WHO), 2000. The World
Health
Report 2000: Health Systems—Improving Performance. World Health Organization,
Geneva.
Ziyad,
A. H., and Akter, S., 2011. Incidence and trend of road traffic injuries and
related deaths in
Kuwait:
2000-2009. Injury, doi:10.1016/j. injury.2011.09.023