Improving Road Safety
in the OIC Member States
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installation of protective barriers and the construction of bicycle paths. These safety measures
are likely to contribute to better road safety (OECD/ITF, 2016).
Pillar 3: Vehicles
The lack of applied vehicle standards results in unsafe and non-standard vehicles using public
roads. Vehicles in Morocco are relatively old. It is estimated by the SWOV that 75%of the vehicle
fleet are 10 years and older. Many cars and trucks are poorly maintained and especially the
trucks are often overloaded. It is common to see trucks overturned or broken down along
highways (OSAC Country Council Information, 2014b).
In Morocco, commercial vehicles and taxis have an annual inspection and buses are inspected
every six months. For passenger cars these annual technical inspections are compulsory after
five years. It is not known what percentage of crashes is caused by a mechanical failure. In Rabat
approximately 10% of crashes are the result of vehicle defects. Older cars that are more than 12
years old are more often involved in crashes than newer cars (Schermers et al., 2015).
Pillar 4: Road users
More than half of the fatalities are represented by vulnerable road users such as pedestrians,
cyclists and motorcyclists. Pedestrians are the main victims of traffic crashes followed by car
occupants and motorcyclists. According to the OECD and ITF people between the age of 25 and
64 over-represent the number of road fatalities. This is the economically active segment of the
population and could be related to higher exposure and more travel. Being more on the road in
certain traffic peaks increases the chance of a road accident.
In Morocco it is forbidden to drive under the influence of (illicit) drugs. However, this measure
is not yet enforced. While Morocco is predominately a Muslim country, alcohol is still available
for purchase and consumption in many cities and places across Morocco. In 2013, alcohol use
was cited as a contributing factor in 2.3% of all road crashes. National drink-driving laws have
been developed and adopted (OECD/ITF, 2016).
Pillar 5: Post-crash response
Morocco does have an emergency telephone number but lacks emergency room injury
surveillance systems (World Health Organisation, 2015b). Recently the ambulance fleet of
Morocco was modernised and improved together with the creation of the emergency medical
rescue system (SAMU) and the mobile medical emergency services (SMUR) created in regional
hospital centres (OECD/ITF, 2016).
Road Safety in Oman
Introduction
Oman has a total land area of 309.500 square kilometres, a population of around 3.6 million
people and approximately 1.1 million registered vehicles. The country has a serious road safety
problemwith approximately 913 road traffic fatalities reported in 2013. Based onWorld Health
Organization (WHO) estimates the mortality rate in Oman is equivalent to a rate of 25,4 road