Improving Road Safety
in the OIC Member States
103
Based on the results of a recent preliminary analysis of the road safety situation in Cameroon
based on police reported crash data (Luca Persia et al., 2015), the main reported causes of road
accidents were identified to be:
 Poor road user behaviour (70%).
 Mechanical failure due to ageing vehicles (about 20%).
 Poor road infrastructure (around 10%).
This study revealed that the role of human factors (HF) in crash occurrence revealed some
recurrent risk factors, including:
 Speeding;
 The consumption of alcohol and drugs;
 Overloading of vehicles, especially motorcycles (this excludes the activities of transport
resulting from port cargo);
 Non-use of helmets by drivers and passengers of two-wheel vehicles.
 Non-use of seat belts in urban (town) areas
By specifically analysing accidents involving vulnerable road users, such as pedestrians, cyclists
and motorcyclists, the causes can be allocated to:
 The lack of adequate infrastructure (pedestrian crossings, lighting, subways, overpasses, and
taxi stand areas, rest areas etc.).
 Risky behaviours of pedestrians (e.g., illegal crossing, walking on the roads etc.).
 Inconsiderate drivers and interaction with pedestrians
 Mixed function of road and mix of types of road users on the same roadway (e.g., truck,
motorcycle, bicycle, pedestrian, bus on the Corridor Douala Yaounde Ndjamena)
 The illegal and non-designated use of the roadway and pavement/verges (e.g. due to illegal
parking; hawker trading activities, etc.).
 Inadequate driving skills.
 Inadequate road signs and markings and poor driver discipline.
Over the 8 year period more than 20,000 crashes have been recorded by the police and these
reveal that human factors (HF) are judged to play a significant role in crashes. In only 12% of all
the records (and representing 1004 fatalities), HF variables were scored as not having played a
role in the crashes or the role was unknown. Although human factors are, in general, interesting
to know, they are based on the judgement of the persons completing the crash report and
generally are subjective in nature and therefore unreliable for drawing firm conclusions. They
are difficult to observe (especially when the driver is killed), and it should be questioned
whether extensive efforts to improve the use and correct entry of these variables is the most
effective way to improve the database quality and usefulness.
There are almost no records where these variables were scored unknown (non renseigne),
although it is known that these variables are difficult to observe. Due to the complexity of
accurately assigning HF related factors to crashes, this relatively high completion rate suggests