Traffic Accidents in Iraq:An analytical study

Authors

  • Ali Ahmed Mohammed 1Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2Smart Driving Research Center (SDRC), University Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, 86400 Parit Raja, Batu Pahat, Johor, Malaysia. 3Building and Construction Engineering Department, College of Engineering, University of Technology, Baghdad, Iraq
  • Kamarudin Bin Ambak 1Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2Smart Driving Research Center (SDRC), University Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, 86400 Parit Raja, Batu Pahat, Johor, Malaysia.
  • Ahmed Mancy Mosa Civil Engineering Department, Al-Mansour University College, Baghdad, Iraq.
  • Deprizon Syamsunur 5Faculty of Civil Engineering Department UCSI University, Jalan Menara Gading 1, Taman Connaught-56000Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur

Keywords:

Traffic accidents,Road safety,injuries rate, fatality rate

Abstract

Traffic accidents in Iraq with great seriousness and comparable with the current terrorism operations, it has been considerably menaced the life of the Iraqi society. It has become one of the problems that drain the material resources and causes social problems and loss of human energies, that are considered the main element of the society. Traffic accidents have long been recognized as an iceberg for comprehending the discrepancies of traffic accidents and entire transportation systems. Besides, there is an insufficiency of experts of highway safety, and real experience is limited to few experts in Iraq. There is also a lack in the distribution of those experts and deficiency in the professional staff of highway safety. Data on fatal injuries caused by traffic accidents was covered by the author of this study during (2005-2011) for the fifteen governorates in Iraq, Data on number of traffic accidents per governorate was obtained from the General Traffic Directorate with cooperation Ministry of Planning/ the Central Statistical Organization (CSO) with coordination with the Ministry of Interior in Iraq. Traffic accidents analysis was performed based on the number of factors like gender and age of the driver, light condition, type of accident and status of the road. Reasons for traffic accident were also illuminated based on the driver, the road, the passenger, and the pedestrians so as to verify the cause and effect of traffic accidents in Iraq. Results showed that the distribution of traffic accidents deaths and injuries in Iraq varied according to age, gender, month and time. Overall, traffic accidents were dramatically increased from 2005 to 2011. Moreover, road accidents are relatively higher in extreme weather during working hours. Analysis of road traffic accidents based on light condition showed that the accidents rate was significantly decreased in the night. Collision accidents recorded highest results in Baghdad and Babil city. However, results were slightly approximated for the rest of the cities. Ratios for the car coup gave higher magnitudes in Al- Qadissiya, Baghdad, Babil, and Basrah city for the wetted road. It indicates the absence of security precautions especially during rainy days hence vehicles will be slipped accordingly. It was observed that the highest accidents ratio was attributed to the driver and it was 36% for Baghdad city and number of accidents was 2379. Whilst Nineveh city registered fewer accidents ratio with 22% and a number of the accident was 586. Result for traffic accidents based on the type of the vehicle indicated that saloon vehicle resulted in higher rate of traffic accidents up to 26.3%. Baghdad city was higher than the other cities, a number of accidents in Baghdad were 1234 while the number of accidents was significantly decreased to 425 in Al-Anbar city.

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Published

2018-07-23

Issue

Vol. 5 No. 1&2 (2018): Journal of Advanced Research in Civil and Environmental Engineering

Section

Research Article