Current traffic safety issues in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Transportation sector in Saudi Arabia has witnessed progressive growth over the last two dec-ades. While the country's population has doubled during this period, total length of roads has increased 10 times, and number of registered vehicles was multiplied 34 times. During the period from 1975 to 1980, the intercity travel has shown an annual growth rate of 27%. As a result of the dynamic growth there was an increase in the number and severity of road traffic acci-dents. The number of accidents, fatalitis, and injuries has increased 8.6, 4.7, and 4.1 times respectively between 1971 and 1990. The purpose of this paper is to present the magnitude of traffic accidents in Saudi Arabia and to discuss different traffic safety measures which were implemented to face this dilemma.