By Sidi Mohamed
DOHA: The 24th World International Traffic Medicine Association (ITMA) Congress ended yesterday.
It shed light on progress in traffic safety, prevention of accidents and how to treat the injured. Participants exchanged opinions and experiences in latest developments in traffic medicine.
They also discussed topics such as traffic medicine, traffic safety and traffic laws and regulations in the Gulf, road engineering and social awareness.
Dr Wafa Al Yazidi, Chairperson, Scientific Committee of the conference, said in a statement that the forum has made recommendations, including those to strengthen international cooperation and exchange of knowledge and experience in traffic safety in fast-developing countries.
Delivering the keynote address at the closing ceremony, ITMA President Dr Larsh Englund declared the winner of the ITMA award: Prof. Michael Sevick from Michigan University in the US.
Prof. Sevick could not attend the congress so the award will be handed over to him later. He has carried out research on traffic, vehicles, road safety, the environment, demographic changes and monitoring vehicles.
“The main objective of the congress was to provide a platform for experts from around the world and I thank Qatar and wish that the congress will contribute to decreasing traffic accidents in Qatar,” Dr Englund said.
“I would like to welcome China which will host the next edition of the congress in September 2016 and again thank Qatar as everything was good and I feel very happy about this,” he added.
Brig Mohamed Abdullah Al Malki, Secretary-General, National Road Safety Committee, said the congress coincided with the opening of the world ministerial conference organised by the United Nations in Brazil yesterday with the participation of more than 100 countries for approving required methods for implementing sustainable development goals approved in September 2015 in the presence of world leaders.
The ITMA congress was organised to develop professional mechanisms to deal with traffic aspects, transportation and search for priorities of development needs and future visions, he added.
He said outcome of the three-day conference would be realised only through developing effective implementation campaigns for national strategy for traffic safety according to our time schedule.
The key objective of Qatar’s National Traffic Safety Committee is to reduce the death rate in accidents from 14 per 100,000 to six by 2022.
The strategy, in its first half of the first phase, has accomplished encouraging results as the rate was reduced to 8.5 in 2014. Al Malki said the committee and National Traffic Safety Office would work to develop capabilities of the concerned authorities.
The Peninsula
