Kuwait Times

Published Date: May 14, 2007
By Nawara Fattahova, Staff Writer

KUWAIT: The 'Traffic in Kuwait and its Contemporary Issues' Conference officially began Saturday and will end tomorrow. International experts from the United Nations, United States, Sweden, Canada, and Kuwait participated in this conference.

The first session was entitled 'Traffic Jam and Traffic Safety' and the first speaker of this session was Dr Ram Pendyala from Arizona State University, who spoke about traffic and the psychological aspects of the driver. He explained that great economic upswings tend to increase the demand on buying vehicles, which in turn caused the filling of roads.

Pendyala made a comparison between Kuwait and the United States. "The number of car accidents in Kuwait is double the number of car accidents in the US. Also the number of road deaths in Kuwait is the double the number compared to the States," Pendyala highlighted.

The second speaker of this session was Dr Tarek Sayed of the University of British Colombia. He discussed the reasons and solutions of traffic jams. "Traffic jams costs the world USD 6 billion each year and costs USD 1,000 to each driver yearly. The number of road deaths is about 1.2 million people and the main reason of most accidents is the driver and not the roads," he noted.

There are from 150 to 160 car accidents taking place in Kuwait daily. "Also the number of road deaths in Kuwait is increasing and the main cause of death in Kuwait roads is over speeding," said Fahad Al-Rukaibi from Kuwait University. He also spoke about the traffic violator's attitude and traffic safety.

The second session started with Dr. Christopher Smith from the United Nations, who spoke about the 'Role of International Organizations in Traffic Problems'. "The diference between Kuwait and the United States is that the laws and regulations are applied in the US on everybody without exceptions. In Kuwait the 'Wasta' influence plays a key role in car accidents," he pointed out.

Dr. Samara Abouraaad from the United Nations spoke about the importance of traffic awareness and the importance of using modern untraditional ways. Dr. Peter Elsenaar who was also from the United Nations spoke about the effects of road accidents on the national economy.

After that Dr. Hayder Ozkan spoke about the role of the United Nations in traffic safety. "If Islamic rules were applied on roads, there won't be a traffic problem in the world and no car accidents would happen," he said.

Brigadier Mahmoud Al-Dosari led the third session and Dr. Ghazwan Al-Hajji from Linkopings University, Sweden spoke about the strategies to reduce traffic accidents, particularly in regards to European states.

Dr. Zakiya Al-Hashimi from Kuwait University spoke about the benefits of using the public transport and encouraged people to try it. "I don't know why all students should be given driving licenses?" she wondered.

Lastly, Dr. Kazem Abel from the Kuwait Society for Traffic Safety spoke about the traffic in Kuwait and the psychological aspects of the drivers. "Drivers should wear their seatbelts and using mobile phones should be forbidden during driving," Abel concluded.