Determinants of crashes in the context of a high-fatality road country: analysis of the role of human behavior and the role of urban factors in the case of Libya

Abstract

Despite having only 54% of the world's vehicle fleet, low- and middle-income countries account for 93% of fatalities. The African continent suffers from a very high mortality rate from road accidents; 26.6 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, i.e. almost three times more than in Europe. Investigating the case of Libya is very important, hence its statistics show the negative situation of road safety in the country. The aim of this paper is to assess the root causes of road crashes. Using a survey addressed to drivers, we have tried to investigate whether this risk and negative statistics are explained by driver’s behavior or spatial factors of urban traffic accident and geomatric. The results show the existence of two groups of behavior; a first class assuming the important human role in road crashes, a second class highlighting the importance of urban design regarding tremendous inefficiencies. In the absence of responsible behavior, urban design and regulatory system must ensure an environment that will limit accidents and reduce their root causes. In this sense the implementation of a systemic approach is very important in the case of Libya.