International Journal of

ADVANCED AND APPLIED SCIENCES

EISSN: 2313-3724, Print ISSN: 2313-626X

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 Volume 7, Issue 10 (October 2020), Pages: 46-68

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 Original Research Paper

 Title: Exploring the risk factors of spinal cord injury in the causation of road traffic collisions in Saudi Arabia: A retrospective study (1970-2018)

 Author(s): Naif Khalaf Al-Shammari *

 Affiliation(s):

 Mechanical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, University of Hail, Hail, Saudi Arabia

  Full Text - PDF          XML

 * Corresponding Author. 

  Corresponding author's ORCID profile: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5100-267X

 Digital Object Identifier: 

 https://doi.org/10.21833/ijaas.2020.10.006

 Abstract:

Road traffic accidents (RTAs) are serious problems around the world. In this study, a retrospective analysis was conducted based on secondary data obtained from the Saudi official sources on RTAs, road injuries, and deaths, on people of all ages in the thirteen regions of the country during the period of 1970–2018. Moreover, comparison with the International Road Federation (IRF) statistics reports and the published literature has been made. This study aims to investigate, collate, and analyze data on the state of traffic safety in Saudi Arabia during the last five decades. It is believed that such a comprehensive review and analysis would help in a better understanding of the current traffic safety situation in this country and in developing strategies to improve this situation. A number of key issues were raised from this review. The study has shown that despite the sharp increase in the registered vehicles in Saudi Arabia, fatality rates (per vehicle) appear to have declined. However, these declines were accompanied by a persistent increase in the fatality rates per person. Frontal (56%) and side impacts (27%) are the common types of constituted RTAs. The portion of spinal injury per human body, including the neck, was found to be 11% exceeding the international rates (3-6%) because of reckless and aggressive driving (52.45%) in this country. The spinal injury occurs to one person injured every two hours, and 1:6 person injured on the roads. The leading cause of spinal cord injury (SCI) is a road traffic accident, accounting for 63% of all causes. Only 57% of all SCI casualties were received first aid at the site by emergency medical treatment (EMT), and the majority of casualties (49%) were reached by EMT service within 11-20 minutes. Most victims (63%) died at the spot before arrival at the hospital. It is obvious that there is a lack of emergency services and a shortage in the first aid coverage on highways of Saudi Arabia. The size of the problem of road crashes in Saudi Arabia, and the size of the human and economic resources lost is therefore enormous. Therefore, it is necessary to develop and implement an improved national strategy to mitigate this problem. 

 © 2020 The Authors. Published by IASE.

 This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

 Keywords: Road traffic accident, Accident prevention, Spinal cord injury, Saudi Arabia

 Article History: Received 15 October 2019, Received in revised form 12 April 2020, Accepted 15 June 2020

 Funding:

This research was funded by King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, General Directorate of Research Grants Program, Grant Number# AT-34-220.

 Acknowledgment:

The author would like to thank King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, General Directorate of Research Grants Program, Saudi Arabia for funding and supporting this research project, Grant Number# AT-34-220.

 Compliance with ethical standards

 Conflict of interest: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

 Citation:

 Al-Shammari NK (2020). Exploring the risk factors of spinal cord injury in the causation of road traffic collisions in Saudi Arabia: A retrospective study (1970-2018). International Journal of Advanced and Applied Sciences, 7(10): 46-68

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 Figures

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 Tables

 Table 1

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