(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) Pedestrians constitute 23 per cent of road accident deaths in Oman, according to World Health Organization's Global Status Report on Road Safety 2013.
The report says that the Eastern Mediterranean Region has the second highest fatalities from road accidents (21.3 per 100,000) in the world, after the African region (24.1 per 100,000) and that nearly half of the deaths are among vulnerable road users, particularly pedestrians.
A WHO official said, ''Forty five per cent of road traffic deaths in the region are among vulnerable road users: pedestrians (28 per cent), motorcyclists (14 per cent) and cyclists (three per cent).
''In high-income countries, most road accident deaths occur among car occupants, while in middle-income countries pedestrians and riders of two and three-wheelers account for a higher proportion of deaths.''
''In Oman 39 per cent of those killed in road accidents are drivers of cars and light motor vehicles, 33 per cent are passengers of the same and around 23 per cent are pedestrians,'' he said. The sultanate is among countries in the region with the highest percentage of drivers killed.
''Some countries of the region have the highest road fatalities in the world, including Oman,'' he said.
The region also has the highest rates of road fatalities among its high-income countries, at 21.7 per 100,000 population. This is more than double of the global rate of 8.7 per 100,000 population for high-income countries. According to the report, over 75 per cent of those killed in road accidents in the region were males, while 60 per cent were in the productive age group of 15 to 44 years.
While all Eastern Mediterranean region countries have speed limit laws, 95 per cent have legislations on drinking and driving and seat belts, 89 per cent countries require motorcyclists to wear helmets and restrict mobile phone use while driving.
However, many of these laws are not comprehensive and this limits their effectiveness. Only two countries - Sudan and Tunisia - have comprehensive laws with urban speed limits of 50kmph or less. They allow authorities to modify local speed limits, for example, around schools or in residential areas.
Eighteen of the 19 countries surveyed have set permissible limits for alcohol when driving. Less than two-thirds of these base them on blood alcohol concentration (BAC) and seven stipulate BAC limits of 0.05 g/dl or less, as recommended by WHO. ''The permissible limit in Oman is 0.08 g/dl, and 0.6 per cent of road accident deaths are due to alcohol,'' the official added.
''Only 18 of the 19 countries have laws that make seat belts mandatory, but only 26 per cent of these have a national legislation that says all occupants of a car (in front and rear seats) should wear them. Oman is not among them,'' he said. Also, Oman is not among the only two countries that make child seat restraints mandatory.
Oman is among the 21 per cent of the countries surveyed that make helmets compulsory. While the sultanate prohibits use of hand-held mobile devices while driving, it has no law banning hand-free device
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