Saudi Aramco's Traffic Safety Signature Program (TSSP) and the University of Dammam recently conducted a signing ceremony for the renewal of the agreement of Saudi Aramco Chair for Traffic Safety at the university. The event was attended by HE Dr. Abdullah Al Rubaish, Rector of the University of Dammam; Bader F. Al Qadran, Saudi Aramco executive director of Safety and Industrial Security; Khalid A. Al Mazroa, director of Eastern Province Traffic Police; Sultan H. Al Zahrani, TSSP director; Saad Al Sayari, general director of the Eastern Province Ministry of Transport; Imad Al Sahan, director of Designs and Studies in the Eastern Province Municipality; and Dr. Abdulsalam Al-Sulieman, vice president of Research & Higher Studies at the university. Also attending were members from various government sectors, as well as representatives from Saudi Aramco. A Partnership for Safety Al Rubaish, who opened the event by welcoming attendees, said he appreciated the partnership between Saudi Aramco and the university in the field of Traffic Safety Enhancement in the Kingdom, generally, and in the Eastern Province in particular. Al Qadran emphasized the importance of the contribution of all concerned parties to implement the studies and research of the Chair. He added that the Chair effort should focus on producing studies and projects that can be effectively implemented for the sake of traffic safety enhancement. Looking Back at Accomplishments, Looking Forward to New Programs Dr. Abdul Hameed Al Moajel, supervisor of the Chair, presented an overview of the partnership between Saudi Aramco and the University of Dammam, including the accomplishments of the previous three years and the proposed projects and programs for the next three years. Among the accomplishments are six studies and projects on the following:
- Two-part study on seat belt restraint use in the Eastern Province
- An assessment of Security Police Personnel in regard to field work and its effects on security personnel in the Eastern Province
- In-depth crash investigation and analysis
- An 11-part study on the two corridors of the Abu Hadriyah/GCC and King Fahd highways
- Crash data analysis and red light camera evaluation for the Dammam metro
- Creation of a traffic crash investigation book
- Establishment of a B.Sc. program in Transportation
- Supervised one M.Sc. and 17 B.Sc. student research projects
- Established traffic safety online library
- Organized two lectures on STARS software for traffic accident reconstruction simulation and traffic management in major cities
- The Chair offered eight workshops
- An international conference that included three papers published in the conference book and eight papers under review.
A technical committee will be formed in the near future with the involved parties to agree on the proposed projects and programs for the next three years. The new agreement will take effect in January 2016 and last for three years.