Leveraging Computer Tools for Enhanced Bottom-Up Road Safety Regulations: Insights from Lebanon

Transportation design increasingly involves local stakeholders that bring in their own, "city perspective" to highway safety. It is a ‘‘bottom-up’’ that complements national-level regulations with local knowledge and information about specific conditions. Such an approach benefits from specific implementation of computer tools, such as traffic simulation software (VISTRO), and therefore complements national, "Top-Down" regulations. Such an approach is very relevant to Lebanon, where the breakdown of the car fleet is very specific. This paper outlines the suitability and feasibility of each approach, and how the bottom-up regulation complements standards like AASHTO in the context of Lebanon. It considers a single case to frame the problem: the Zouk Mosbeh intersection. The use of computer tools further highlights how these tools facilitate localized decision-making, community engagement, and effective safety measures.