OPTIMIZING THE URBAN AREA TOWARD TACKLING ROAD ACCIDENT AND RISKS: COUNTREMEASURES FOR TRIPOLI

In recent years, there has been a gradual increase in the need for private vehicle ownership in Libya due to the lack and weakness of public transport infrastructure, which has led to the growth of traffic accidents, especially in Tripoli. Traffic accidents often occur as a result of driver negligence in terms of speed, hesitation, failure to give priority, using the phone while driving, and incorrectly handling turns. Data collected from traffic accident records from the period (01/01/2015 to 31/12/2019) on 12 main roads showed the occurrence of 1827 traffic accidents. 19% of the accidents were on the airport road and the Al Shat road. Each of the selected roads had a Severity Index (SI) higher than 10. Increasing the width of the median, pedestrian crossings, pedestrian bridges, as well as the number of lanes and traffic signs would significantly increase road safety, by following the systematic approach stipulated by the Federal Highway Administration (FHA) which "focuses on installing countermeasures to reduce crashes at a large scale or a number of locations that share high-risk factors. In this study, a set of countermeasures and measures will be proposed based on the CRF (Crash Reduction Factors) to reduce traffic accidents and how to apply a systematic approach for safer roads in Tripoli. Keywords: Crash reduction factors, Road Safety, Severity Index, Road black spots, Road Accident.