Journal of Emerging Trends in Economics and Management Sciences: Home

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.

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