Towards understanding the traffic violators for safer roads in Kuwait

Over 3 million traffic violations were recorded in the State of Kuwait during the year 2005. A large number of accident casualties, including 450 fatalities and 290 sever injuries were also reported during this period. Traffic accidents have become one of the major causes of death in urban areas. Kuwait has been witnessing increasing trends in road-accident fatalities. The accident fatalities and traffic violations rates were found to be much higher than several other countries around the world. Kuwait implemented new and more stringent traffic laws in November of 2001 in order to minimize traffic violations and thereby reduce traffic accidents. To complement the laws, over 100 cameras were installed to record speed and red-light running violations. The reported figures and trends present an alarming situation with regards to traffic violations and accident causalities. It is becoming more and more evident that engineering alone may not be able to help alleviate the dangerous situation of traffic accidents, the country is in today. Effective education and enforcement actions are required to complement the engineering measures to improve the traffic safety situation in Kuwait. This academic paper presents the original results of a study on traffic violators and driver behavior in Kuwait. This study uses the Manchester Driver Behaviour Questionnaire (DBQ), which is well-known worldwide, and marks the first of its kind in Kuwait. The paper used a modified DBQ for Kuwait drivers. An analysis of the Kuwait Ministry of Interior (MOI) statistics on traffic violations and accidents is included in this paper along with the results of the Manchester Driver Behavior Questionnaire (DBQ) administered on randomly selected traffic violators at the Fines and Penalties Departments of the Ministry of Interior in all Kuwait governorates.