Road Traffic Injury As a Major Public Health Issue in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: A Review

Overview

Journal Front Public Health

Specialty Public Health

Date 2016 Oct 18

PMID 27747208

Citations 23

Authors

Erica DeNicola

Omar S Aburizaize

Azhar Siddique

Haider Khwaja

David O Carpenter

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Injury was the largest single cause of disability-adjusted life years and death in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 2013. The vast majority of injury-related fatalities are deaths caused by road traffic. Measures to control this serious public health issue, which has significant consequences for both Saudi families and the Saudi economy as a whole, have been underway for years but with little success. Most attempts at intervening revolve around attempts for enforcing stricter traffic laws and by installing automated traffic monitoring systems that will catch law breakers on camera and issue tickets and fines. While there has been much research on various factors that play a role in the high rate of road traffic injury in The Kingdom (e.g., driver behavior, animal collisions, disobeying traffic and pedestrian signals, environmental elements), virtually no attention has been given to examining Saudi drivers behave the way that they do. This review provides a thorough account of the present situation in Saudi Arabia and discusses how health behavior theory can be used to gain a better understanding of driver behavior.

Citing Articles

Exploring Saudi paramedics' experiences in managing adult trauma cases: a qualitative study.

Almuwallad A, Harthi N, Albargi H, Siddig B, Alharbi R BMC Emerg Med. 2024; 24(1):227.

PMID: 39627687 PMC: 11616129. DOI: 10.1186/s12873-024-01145-0.

Implementing Prehospital Ultrasound at the Saudi Red Crescent Authority: Perceived Barriers and Training Needs.

Alsulami M, Almukhlifi Y, Alsulami A, Al Nufaiei Z, Alruwaili A, Alanazy A J Multidiscip Healthc. 2024; 17:2871-2878.

PMID: 38881755 PMC: 11180463. DOI: 10.2147/JMDH.S457429.

Analysis of road traffic injuries presented to the emergency department in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia: a hospital-based study.

Amir A, Amir B, Alghannam A, Abdeen T, Al-Howaish A, Alsheniber R J Med Life. 2024; 16(12):1825-1838.

PMID: 38585522 PMC: 10994613. DOI: 10.25122/jml-2023-0316.

Fatal crashes and rare events logistic regression: an exploratory empirical study.

Xiao Y, Lin L, Zhou H, Tan Q, Wang J, Yang Y Front Public Health. 2024; 11:1294338.

PMID: 38249366 PMC: 10796722. DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1294338.

The prevalence of long-term rehabilitation following motor-vehicle crashes in Saudi Arabia: a multicenter study.

Alghnam S, Alghamdi M, Alzahrani S, Alzomai S, Alghannam A, Albabtain I BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2022; 23(1):202.

PMID: 35241048 PMC: 8895876. DOI: 10.1186/s12891-022-05153-8.

References

Murray C, Barber R, Foreman K, Abbasoglu Ozgoren A, Abd-Allah F, Abera S . Global, regional, and national disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) for 306 diseases and injuries and healthy life expectancy (HALE) for 188 countries, 1990-2013: quantifying the epidemiological transition. Lancet. 2015; 386(10009):2145-91. PMC: 4673910. DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(15)61340-X. View

Sarma K, Carey R, Kervick A, Bimpeh Y . Psychological factors associated with indices of risky, reckless and cautious driving in a national sample of drivers in the Republic of Ireland. Accid Anal Prev. 2012; 50:1226-35. DOI: 10.1016/j.aap.2012.09.020. View

Al Turki Y . How can Saudi Arabia use the Decade of Action for Road Safety to catalyse road traffic injury prevention policy and interventions?. Int J Inj Contr Saf Promot. 2013; 21(4):397-402. DOI: 10.1080/17457300.2013.833943. View

Crankson S . Motor vehicle injuries in childhood: a hospital-based study in Saudi Arabia. Pediatr Surg Int. 2006; 22(8):641-5. DOI: 10.1007/s00383-006-1715-7. View

Al-Naami M, Arafah M, Al-Ibrahim F . Trauma care systems in Saudi Arabia: an agenda for action. Ann Saudi Med. 2010; 30(1):50-8. PMC: 2850182. DOI: 10.4103/0256-4947.59374. View

Bendak S . Seat belt utilization in Saudi Arabia and its impact on road accident injuries. Accid Anal Prev. 2005; 37(2):367-71. DOI: 10.1016/j.aap.2004.10.007. View

Alshahri S, Cripps R, Lee B, Al-Jadid M . Traumatic spinal cord injury in Saudi Arabia: an epidemiological estimate from Riyadh. Spinal Cord. 2012; 50(12):882-4. DOI: 10.1038/sc.2012.65. View

Elliott M, Armitage C, Baughan C . Drivers' compliance with speed limits: an application of the theory of planned behavior. J Appl Psychol. 2003; 88(5):964-72. DOI: 10.1037/0021-9010.88.5.964. View

Hassan H, Al-Faleh H . Exploring the risk factors associated with the size and severity of roadway crashes in Riyadh. J Safety Res. 2013; 47:67-74. DOI: 10.1016/j.jsr.2013.09.002. View

10.

Ansari S, Akhdar F, Mandoorah M, Moutaery K . Causes and effects of road traffic accidents in Saudi Arabia. Public Health. 2000; 114(1):37-9. DOI: 10.1038/sj.ph.1900610. View

11.

Alhabdan S, Zamakhshary M, Alnaimi M, Mandora H, Alhamdan M, Al-Bedah K . Epidemiology of traumatic head injury in children and adolescents in a major trauma center in Saudi Arabia: implications for injury prevention. Ann Saudi Med. 2013; 33(1):52-6. PMC: 6078585. DOI: 10.5144/0256-4947.2013.52. View

12.

Ansary L, Esmaeil S, Adi Y . Causes of death certification of adults: an exploratory cross-sectional study at a university hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Ann Saudi Med. 2013; 32(6):615-22. PMC: 6081104. DOI: 10.5144/0256-4947.2012.615. View

13.

Barrimah I, Midhet F, Sharaf F . Epidemiology of road traffic injuries in qassim region, saudi arabia: consistency of police and health data. Int J Health Sci (Qassim). 2012; 6(1):31-41. PMC: 3523781. DOI: 10.12816/0005971. View

14.

Al Madni O, Kharoshah M, Zaki M, Ghaleb S . Hanging deaths in Dammam, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. J Forensic Leg Med. 2010; 17(5):265-8. DOI: 10.1016/j.jflm.2010.04.003. View

15.

Ratrout N . Tire condition and drivers' practice in maintaining tires in Saudi Arabia. Accid Anal Prev. 2004; 37(1):201-6. DOI: 10.1016/j.aap.2003.03.001. View

16.

Al-Saleh K, Bendak S . Drivers' behaviour at roundabouts in Riyadh. Int J Inj Contr Saf Promot. 2011; 19(1):19-25. DOI: 10.1080/17457300.2011.581378. View

17.

Stanojevic P, Jovanovic D, Lajunen T . Influence of traffic enforcement on the attitudes and behavior of drivers. Accid Anal Prev. 2013; 52:29-38. DOI: 10.1016/j.aap.2012.12.019. View

18.

Aldawood A, Alsultan M, Haddad S, AlQahtani S, Tamim H, Arabi Y . Trauma profile at a tertiary intensive care unit in Saudi Arabia. Ann Saudi Med. 2012; 32(5):498-501. PMC: 6080991. DOI: 10.5144/0256-4947.2012.498. View

19.

Naeem Z . Road traffic injuries - changing trend?. Int J Health Sci (Qassim). 2011; 4(2):v-viii. PMC: 3068826. View