Skip to main content

TRL to evaluate road safety performance in the Sultanate of Oman

The UK’s Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) has been commissioned by the Royal Oman Police (ROP) to undertake a study covering all aspects of road safety within the Sultanate of Oman. TRL’s team of experts will conduct a high level multi-sector assessment of existing road safety activity in the Sultanate. The review will evaluate the Sultanate’s road safety performance, comparing existing activities against best practice across twelve different disciplines including road safety management, safety engineeri
December 4, 2012 Read time: 3 mins
The UK’s Transport Research Laboratory (491 TRL) has been commissioned by the Royal Oman Police (ROP) to undertake a study covering all aspects of road safety within the Sultanate of Oman. TRL’s team of experts will conduct a high level multi-sector assessment of existing road safety activity in the Sultanate. The review will evaluate the Sultanate’s road safety performance, comparing existing activities against best practice across twelve different disciplines including road safety management, safety engineering, legislation and enforcement, education and awareness and post-crash response.

Following the multi-disciplinary review, TRL will develop an action plan that provides practical, realistic solutions aimed at building the Sultanate’s capacity to improve the road safety situation. The action plan will be designed in accordance with the principles of the Safe System, using short to medium-term recommendations that bring about appropriate incremental enhancements in performance.

This study complements an existing project in Oman, where TRL is designing a comprehensive crash database and installing its unique iMAAP network based crash analysis system, working on behalf of the Research Council and in collaboration with ROP.

TRL’s safety director, Tracy Savill says: “We are delighted to be cementing our relationship with the Royal Oman Police and other stakeholders across the Sultanate, assisting in bringing about an enhanced shared responsibility to tackling the road safety problems of Oman.

“We hope that the project will result in the implementation of a series of evidence based recommendations that will stabilise and reduce the high number of road deaths in the country.”

Lieutenant Colonel Amour Sultan Al Touqi of the Royal Oman Police public relations department says: “ROP has been honoured to collaborate with TRL in order to carry out a comprehensive assessment of the current status of traffic safety in the Sultanate in the hope to come up with suitable recommendations and implement them on the ground”.

Safe System is a road transport system that is designed to compensate for human error by helping to ensure that road users are not subject to crash forces that result in fatal or serious injuries.

The Safe System refers to the roles and responsibilities that all system users (e.g. drivers) and designers (e.g. policy makers) play and has been developed around three cornerstones:  ‘Safe Roads’, ‘Safe Speeds’ and ‘Safe Vehicles’. A fourth cornerstone, Road Users has recently been added to this to recognise the importance of designing competent and compliant road users.

The Safe System is supported by effective management of road safety at the highest level to improve performance and to ensure that initiatives are focussed on achieving results. Finally, the Safe System must be supported by an effective mechanism for post-crash response that minimises the severity of the outcome from injuries received and facilitates fast and comprehensive rehabilitation for road crash victims.

The Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020 recommends that every country works towards the implementation of a Safe System.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • TRL launches 2013 traffic signals tour
    August 7, 2013
    Following its successful launch last year, the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) Traffic Signals Tour 2013 tour will take place at six key locations across the UK during 1 to 16 October, calling at London, Cardiff, Leicester, Leeds and Glasgow as well as at TRL Crowthorne headquarters in Berkshire.
  • In-vehicle fleet management system reduces losses
    May 4, 2012
    Loomis offers products and services that provide complete cash logistics solutions for financial institutions, retailers and other commercial enterprises. The company is present in twelve European countries and the USA and has just over 20,000 employees. At Loomis safety is considered good business. Presented with the opportunity to reduce both accident frequency and associated primary liability costs, the company equipped the majority of its US armoured truck and van fleet with the Driver Safety Measuremen
  • Distraction dominated teen driver accident causes.
    June 3, 2015
    As a new report shows that distracted driving is a bigger cause of accidents than previously thought, Jon Masters asks what should be done to counter this problem. Research carried out by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety has shed new light on the dangers of distraction for teen drivers. Six years of study using video analysis has shown that 58% of all crashes involving teen drivers are caused by the driver being distracted and proved that the influence of external factors is stronger than previously th
  • IBM develops plan to ease Nairobi’s traffic jams
    May 14, 2012
    A team of IBM experts assigned to Nairobi have provided a framework and roadmap to the city to improve the flow of road traffic and increase revenues from the transportation sector. The recommendations complement Nairobi's considerable on-going investment in underlying roadway infrastructure and include making traffic information more readily available to citizens, motorists, police, policymakers and planners so that better transportation decisions can be made in the near and long term.