Proposal for a Master Plan for Road safety in lebanon

Unfortunately, there is no established and implemented national land transport policy including, among other things, directives concerning the balance between different transport policy objectives (accessibility, speed, transport costs, environmental impact, and road safety) and different transport modes (road, rail, air and maritime). Nor does there exist any long-term, nation-wide master plan for land transport. Instead, it appears that short and medium-term plans for smaller regions are used. The lack of a transport policy has implications both in rural and urban areas.
The lack of a national transport policy has contributed to the unsuitable situation between different transport policy objectives. Good accessibility, high speeds and little congestion have been given higher priority than good safety and low environmental impact. We admit that there is an urgent need to draw a National Master Plan for Road Safety that should include the following: a problem analysis; a safety vision; a safety strategy and an action plan.
The proposed Master Plan should be multi-sectoral and multi-disciplinary, and cover all major actions – “system and institutional” interventions as well as “technical countermeasures”. It could, for example, include interventions concerning transport policy, safety organization and funding as well as actions concerning infrastructure, vehicles, education and enforcement. A Master Plan should comprise actions to be taken by all involved organizations- governmental and other public organizations as well as non-governmental organizations.
Focus should be placed on the most important problem areas. In many cases, vulnerable road users (e.g. pedestrians) are more exposed to causality risks than protected road users (e.g. car occupants). High priority should therefore be given to vulnerable groups.
The execution of a Road Safety Master Plan is a long and laborious process comprising several stages. Formulating a safety strategy and an outline should be the first step. In successive stages, the Master Plan should be refined and also-through discussions and cooperation with involved actors-anchored in involved agencies.
Therefore, the output of this project will try to be a comprehensive and an acceptable Road Safety Master Plan. However, further developments are welcomed, by providing a general structure for the Master Plan and outlines for the most important areas. These outlines will indicate major problems and strategic actions needed. 
Basic requirements for the National Road Safety Organization
In order to achieve efficient road safety management, the following basic requirements are essential:
- A special road safety body should be assigned with overall and multi-sectoral responsibility for road safety. The body should be responsible for coordination of all road safety activities and should be hold accountable to decrease the burden of Road Traffic Injuries on the national level.
- The parliament should clearly define the responsibilities and the duties of the national body and of all other public and private institutions involved in Road Safety efforts. It is crucial that the body will have sufficient authority to carry out its duties.
-  The body should be highly respected by all concerned parties. It is preferable to be under the presidency of the prime minister in order to avoid conflicts of interest between various public agencies.
- The body should report to both the council of ministers and the parliament.
- A secretariat office is required, regardless of the structure that may be selected for the council.
- It is crucial to create good relations between all concerned parties.  
- Technical and scientific committees should be created as subordinate to the council. Members of these committees can play important roles in the success of the road safety interventions.
- The provision of sufficient funding is an important issue in the building the structure of the program.
- Competent and dedicated staff is highly required for the successful management of the council. 

 
An analysis of the road accident situation in Lebanon diverges depending on if underreporting is considered or not. The official statistics does not indicate a very serious road accident problem. If, on the other hand, underreporting is taken into consideration, it seems that Lebanon has a rather serious accident problem. The real number of fatalities can be conservatively estimated at around 580 per year, compared with the reported value of around 330. RTI cause invaluable human tragedy, grief and suffering. They also cause huge losses of economic resources. Some of the losses are easily visible, for example, the costs for property damage. Others are more difficult to observe, for example, the costs for medical treatment and rehabilitation. The lost production of the victims is another “invisible” cost.
Most Ministers, most members of parliament and other high-level politicians have not shown any serious interest in safety. High-level civil servants admit that they seldom use seat belts, for instance. In the programs of the different political parties there appears to be little – if anything at all – concerning safety. The attitudes towards injuries and safety are doubtful even within the governmental organizations responsible for safety.
Public and private organization -the Parliament, the Council of Ministers, many ministries (MoPWT, MoIM, MoEHE and MoPH) and government authorities (DGoRB/DoR, DGoLMT, the Traffic Police/TEC, TMO), provincial authorities (muhafazah), casas, municipalities, car importers, fuel/tire importers, insurance companies, transport providers, universities and schools, emergency services and health care organizations, media and planning organizations, and NGOs (YASA and SRF) – should establish a sustainable cooperation on the national and regional scenes to reduce the burden of road traffic injuries in Lebanon.
Road safety promotion is based on learning by sharing from other successful and failed interventions, either in the developed countries or in the developing countries. It is crucial to spread the word that road traffic injuries are preventable. Lebanon should take benefit from the extensive research and studies organized in the industrialized countries about traffic safety measures. Not only the civil society organizations, but also the governmental agencies can take advantage of the successes and failures of road safety campaigns that were organized in the developed countries and in few developing countries.     
 The RTI problem is urgent and complicated. The 6Es concept stressed the role of various sectors of the society that are involved in road safety. Many different kinds of actions are necessary. In order to reduce the problem efficiently, coordinated and balanced actions from many parts of society are required. To obtain this, it is necessary to use a systematic approach.
prepared by M.Ziad Akl founder of yasa