Safety Evaluation of a Main Corridor in a Developing Country Using a Survey Based Approach

Road traffic crashes are a major cause of concern in Saudi Arabia. Although the general view of the design and quality of Saudi Arabia’s road network meets global standards, there is not enough in-depth analysis of crash locations and contributing factors and their relationship with user characteristics or behaviors. This is mainly due to data availability and quality. This study aims to investigate, analyze, and examine the safety problems on a main corridor in the Eastern Province and then suggest treatments to enhance the safety and explore the crash risk factors associated with crashes on that corridor. A multiple survey approach was used to collect data from road users and experts. The survey addresses traffic safety issues and user behaviors on the corridor. The survey was carried out among 484 drivers and 100 experts in the Eastern Province. To achieve the research aims, one-way and two-way analyses as well as structural equation modeling (SEM) were applied. The results showed a need for adequate shoulders along the corridor and the markings, signs, and signal timing need to be re-evaluated. In addition, greater restrictions on the use of mobile phones while driving are needed. It is recommended also to use television and radio programs for traffic awareness as reported by participants. Moreover, the corridor’s geometrical factors contribute significantly to crashes. Lastly, it showed that the multiple survey approach can be very useful when crash and geometric data are not available or are incomplete.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ABE90 Standing Committee on Transportation in the Developing Countries.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Alarifi, Saif A
  • Alkahtani, Khalid F
  • Abdel-Aty, Mohamed A
  • Kher, Sami Osman
  • Mohammed, Amr M
  • AlMojil, Abdul Hamed
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 96th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2017-1-8 to 2017-1-12
• Date: 2017

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 20p
• Monograph Title: TRB 96th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crash causes; Crash risk forecasting; Developing countries; Highway safety; Risk assessment
• Geographic Terms: Saudi Arabia
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01625601
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 17-03582
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Feb 8 2017 9:23AM