Improving Road Safety
in the OIC Member States
134
In 2012, there were more than 2,100 ambulances operational in Morocco of which 40%
belonged to the Ministry of Health. In 2012, the Ministry of Health published a plan for
improving post-crash care (Ministère de la Santé, 2012). Under the responsibility of the Ministry
of Health several improvements have and will be implemented for emergency medical care
including the care of traffic victims. These include:
 Construction of Trauma Centres are planned in the coming years dedicated to trauma with
specialised and trained trauma team personnel (the first construction is on-going in
Casablanca);
 In recent years, the ambulance fleet has been reinforced with new ambulances provided with
emergency and reanimation equipment;
 Emergency and Intensive Care Transportation land and air Services have been established;
 Emergency Care Training Centres have been established responsible for training in
emergency care gestures for all Emergency staff;
 New field of specialised nurses in emergency and intensive care have been established the
laureates of which are dedicated for emergency services including medical transportation;
 Institutes of ambulance technicians have been established delivering training of ambulance
technicians who, in addition to driving, deliver basic emergency care;
 Medical doctors specialised in trauma have been dispatched over the country in provincial,
regional and University hospitals,
The subject of medical service to traffic victims has also received considerable research interest
in Morocco. Several scientific regional studies of factors that influence the process and medical
outcomes of post-crash response have been performed (Mohammedia, 2010; Messnan, 2014;
Mohammed, 2013; Rhidifa, 2013; Kandri Rody, 2015).
11.8 Data Collection and Crash Reporting
Road crashes in Morocco are registered by the police and the Gendarme. According to officials
at the Roads and Road Traffic Department, the registration rate of crashes is high with almost
all crashes being recorded in the system. However, the exact rate is not known from the
literature nor from discussions. It is a well-known and well reported fact (Amoros, Martin &
Laumon, 2006; Elvik & Mysen, 1999; James, 1991) that road crashes are generally
underreported. Furthermore, there is a strong statistical relationship between the registration
rate and the degree of injury (the more serious the more likely it is registered). However, certain
categories of crashes are more affected than others (for instance a crash between two cyclists is
less likely to be registered than a crash between two vehicles). Also the location of crashes has
an influence, crashes occurring in remotely accessible areas are likely not to be registered by the
police and therefore making use of hospital records to derive more accurate estimates of actual
injury crashes is strongly recommended (Amoros, Martin & Laumon, 2006; James, 1991; Vis et
al., 2011). The practice of corroborating the police registered crashes with hospital registrations
is currently not carried out in Morocco.