ANALYTICAL COMPARISON STUDY OF TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS IN LIBYA

Abstract

The  rapid population  growth  and  increasing  in  socio-economic  activities  have resulted  in  the  enormous  growth  of motor  vehicles  which  is  considered  one  of the primary  factors  responsible   for  increasing  road   accidents  in  many  of  developing countries, including Libya. during the period from 1995 to 2008, the number of registered vehicles in Libya has increased from 109,750 to 2,052,679, a nineteen-fold increase in fourteen years, the population has increased by 24% in the same period [2].

The main goal of this research is to  study and  discuss the traffic accidents in Libya over the last fourteen years, by using useful formula in traffic safety known as Smeed  formula  for  death  rates,  and  studying  the  validity  of  this  formula  in  road accidents in Libya, and assessing the improvement levels in traffic safety through the period of study.Traffic accidents have become a serious problem facing the country, the number of traffic accidents, injuries, and fatalities have increased nearly two times. This study showed that fatality and injury rates (per person) have increased by 45%, accident rates (per person) has increased by 28%, and the fatality rates (per vehicle) decreased by 90%, similarly for injury and accident rates. by using Smeed model and comparing fatality rate for selected developed as well as developing countries results revealed that Libya stands at a higher position, with relatively high motorization level, this country has a higher fatality rate than both developed and developing countries. the situation in Libya is alarming that the need for improvement in traffic safety is urgently needed