Global Engineering Solutions Review is an international peer-reviewed journal targeting to broadcast innovative research and ideas in engineering fields. Stressing the creation and application of new engineering solutions to global issues, it is one of the most important divisions. The journal welcomes the submissions that present efficient, repeatable, and easy to implement solutions to present day challenges in any branch of engineering; civil, mechanical, electrical, environmental, and industrial engineering to mention but a few.
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Road traffic injuries are a major public health and socio-economic problem worldwide, causing more than 1.35 million people to die each year, and causing deaths in particular at high rates in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. This research was set to assess the performance of road safety in the GCC countries and come up with a strategy for reducing traffic accidents, deaths, and injuries based on an innovative composite road safety performance assessment framework. The study was conducted using a quantitative, descriptive and analytical design with secondary traffic data from six countries: Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman for the period 2015-2019 along with questionnaires and expert consultations for 810 drivers. Key to the development of an innovative composite road safety performance index incorporating five dimensions of road safety: accident frequency, death, injuries, traffic violations, road safety policy effectiveness and performance of road safety countermeasures was an Ordered Weighted Averaging (OWA) approach. The results showed a general overall decrease in the level of accidents throughout the GCC with an average annual decrease of 28% in Kuwait and 18.49% in Saudi Arabia. But there were known issues of fatalities, injury severity and high-risk driving behavior. Bahrain has the highest innovative composite road safety score at 0.91, followed by Qatar, with a score of 0.87, then the UAE, with a score of 0.82, and finally Oman with the fewest points, at 0.68. Education and emergency response initiatives were perceived as moderately effective countermeasures, while engineering interventions and enforcement measures were perceived as the most effective countermeasures. The research has introduced a framework for an assessment of road safety in multiple dimensions to address the shortcomings of current single-indicator assessments and offers a useful tool for policy makers to benchmark their efforts and formulate data-driven, targeted and safe system-based road safety plans for the GCC region.
Road Safety, Gulf Cooperation Council, Innovative Composite Road Safety Index, Ordered Weighted Averaging, Traffic Accidents, Traffic Violations, Safe System Approach, Road Safety Performance, Traffic Fatalities, Transportation Policy