Improving Road Safety
in the OIC Member States
144
A considerable number of OICmember countries, notably the middle and high income countries,
have developed towards the growth phase. This typically comes with a growing awareness for
road safety as a problem for society and emerging political support. A supporting legislative
framework is developing. However, funding is still sub-standard and coordination is limited. The
road network is developing, yet the quality of the road network is far from optimal, especially
on local and regional roads, also due to poor road maintenance. Car ownership is growing, and
so is the number of drivers, but the quality of the vehicles is relatively poor, also as a result of
the relatively high average age of the vehicles. Although enforcement is increasing, the
adherence of traffic laws is (still) low. Post-crash response is developing, with ambulances and
trauma centres becoming available in larger urban areas. Accident data is still underdeveloped
but improving in quality.
12.5 Recommendations towards Improving Road Safety
Starting point: know where you stand
This report concludes that a country faces specific challenges that are linked to road safety
development phases. Furthermore, typical policy measures are proposed that are effective in
the defined road safety development phases. At the same time it is acknowledged that no blue
print is available to solve road safety problems in a country and measures need to be tailored to
the needs and characteristics of a country. Therefore, it is important to know where a country
stands in terms of its road safety development phase, taking into account the country specifics,
to determine appropriate action.
Specific tools have been designed to assist countries in conducting road safety capacity reviews
and prepare follow-up road safety projects. For example, the World Bank has developed the
Road Safety Management Capacity Reviews and Safe System Projects Guidelines (Bliss & Green,
2009). The guidelines, which include checklists to conduct the road safety capacity review, will
provide useful guidance, including15:
 Specify a management and investment framework to overcome institutional capacity
barriers and support the successful implementation of road safety interventions;
 Provide practical procedures designed for application at a country level to accelerate
knowledge transfer and sustainably scale up investment to improve road safety results;
 Ensure that institutional strengthening initiatives are properly sequenced and adjusted to
the absorptive and learning capacity of the country concerned.
It is highly recommended to invest in a road safety capacity review, either using the above-
mentioned guidelines or other approaches. Although the procedures are extensive and generally
time consuming, thus costly, this should not be seen as a barrier to implementing a
comprehensive review, as the benefits can be substantial. The more specific the assessment is
made, the better actions towards improving road safety can be tailored.
15 According to the World Bank:
management-capacity-review-guidelines.