Johns Hopkins International Injury Research Unit Director Participates in Fifth International Traffic Safety Forum & Exhibition
Johns Hopkins International Injury Research Unit Director Dr. Abdul Bachani traveled to Saudi Arabia for the 5th International Traffic Safety Forum & Exhibition on February 10-12, 2020. Dr. Bachani joined road safety experts from around the world for the three-day conference organized by the Saudi Society for Traffic Safety (SALAMH) in collaboration with the Imam Abdulrahman bin Faisal University, among other partners.
“This was a great opportunity to connect with international officials and industry stakeholders and engage in high-level discussions,” said Dr. Bachani. “Saudi Arabia has one of the highest road fatality rates and I commend the government for its renewed focus on this issue.”
Dr. Bachani delivered a keynote address in the opening session of the conference - “Towards Vision Zero – Zero Fatalities and Serious Injuries,” during which he highlighted key areas that the country could focus on to improve road safety. Among the issues Dr. Bachani touched upon, he highlighted strong leadership, effective coordination and collaboration among agencies, data systems improvement, and capacity development as fundamental areas that Saudi Arabia needs to focus on to enhance the implementation of best road safety practices; key to achieving the country’s Vision 2030. He was joined by HE Dr. Muhammad bin Abdullah Alqasim (Saudi Red Crescent), Dr. Fred Wegman (Delft University), and Dr. Jon Hankey (Virginia Tech Transportation Institute) in the session and welcomed questions during an open discussion. Later, Dr. Bachani again had the opportunity to share his experience in a special dialogue session on human factors and road crash injury prevention.
From Saudi Arabia, Dr. Bachani will travel to Stockholm, Sweden for the Third Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety on February 19-20, 2020.