Civil Society. According to Rajhi (2011), there are a number of civic organizations that play an important role in promoting traffic safety and raising public awareness about the need to reduce traffic accidents. These organizations include the Omani Society for Road Safety which is dedicated to serving as a strategic partner with the country's official police forces to reduce traffic accidents. Local organizations such as the Omani Society for Road Safety were formed in 2004 following the introduction of the country-wide traffic safety initiative was proposed by the country's leadership (Rajhi, 2011).

The goals of the Omani Society for Road Safety are reflective of the goals of similarly situated enterprises elsewhere and include the following:

1. Support and encourage adherence to the principles of safety on the road to reduce traffic accidents, injuries and deaths and disability caused by accidents.

2. Advocacy and creating awareness of safety issues on the road;

3. Capacity building in the field of road safety through education and training;

4. Perform necessary research of accidents; and,

5. Create a base for communication between the community and all stakeholders on road safety in the Sultanate (public and private) (Rajhi, 2011, para. 2).

A follow-up Traffic Week campaign was also conducted by the public and private sectors in Oman in 2010 with many of the same goals. In addition, in partnership with the Learn for Life organization, a "Motivating the Drivers" campaign launched in 2012 was developed through collaborative efforts Omani universities, private companies and healthcare officials to address traffic safety issues in Oman, including key behavioural factors such as health, safety, and environment (Oman road safety, 2012). The Motivating the Driver initiative collects and trends relevant traffic accident and mortality figures in an effort to identify discrete problem areas and opportunities for improvement.

Traffic Safety/Accident Countermeasures at the Global Level

At the global level, improved traffic safety programs, as part of a larger initiative to help protect the lives of children, are congruent with the stated goals of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) (Rajhi, 2011). In addition, Oman participated in the first Ministerial Conference on Road Safety in Moscow in November 2009. These initiatives are widely regarded as essential to the well-being of citizens in the region. The results of an exhaustive study on road safety released in 2004 by the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimated that traffic accidents kill more than 1.2 million people worldwide each year, and these traffic accidents are responsible for as many as 50 million injuries each year as well (Martin, 2005).

The WHO study projected that by the year 2020, traffic accidents will become the third-leading contributor to global medical costs, placing these accidents well ahead of the enormous global costs being experienced through both war and AIDS (Martin, 2005). Oman, together with a number of other Arab nations in the region, face significant economic constraints as a result of the rising public cost of traffic-related injuries and deaths (Martin, 2005). The WHO report found that, "On average the cost of road traffic injuries amounted to 1.5% of GDP in lower income countries, and 2% of GDP for high income countries. But for Saudi Arabia, Oman, Egypt and Kuwait, the cost may actually exceed 4% of GDP" (Martin, 2005, p. 37). With a gross domestic product of around $83 billion (Oman economy, 2012), these statistics mean that traffic accidents are costing the Sultanate of Oman around $3.3 billion each year.

Conclusion

The research showed that the Sultanate of Oman has a modern transportation infrastructure and police force, but the country continues to suffer an inordinately high level of traffic accidents as well as correspondingly high rates of fatalities and casualties as a result. The Directorate General of the Royal Oman Police was shown to be tasked with ensuring that the vehicles driven on the country's highways are roadworthy, and the Sultanate was shown to have taken aggressive steps to address these unacceptably high traffic accident levels. To this end, a number of public and private sector initiatives have been launched in recent years in an effort to raise public awareness concerning the need for road safety and to use...

Beyond these initiatives, the Royal Oman Police have also implemented a number of innovative programs to reduce traffic accidents throughout the country, including a mobile initiative that takes the message directly to the people who need it. Although much more remains to be done to reduce the traffic accident rates in Oman, the research was consistent in showing that the problem is well-known and there are efforts at all governmental levels to reverse these ugly trends.
References

Martin, J. (2005, March). Arab traffic jam: Road traffic accidents are costing Arab states billions of dollars annually, not to mention the catastrophic loss of life. The Middle East, 354, 37-

39.

Miedema, H.M. & Oudshoorn, C.G. (2001, April). Annoyance from transportation noise:

Relationships with exposure metrics DNL and DENL and their confidence intervals.

Environmental Health Perspectives, 109(4), 2-4.

Oman economy. (2012). CIA world factbook. Retrieved from https://www.cia.gov/library / publications/the-world-factbook/geos/mu.html.

Oman road safety: Motivating the drivers. (2012). Learnforlife. [PDF].

Rajhi, a.A. (2011, October 20). Community-based efforts to reduce traffic accidents. Oman Government: Traffic Control. Retrieved from http://www.traffic.gov.om/index.php / permalink/4089.html.

Royal Oman Police. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.safetyfirstoman.com/about_safety first.php.

Royal Decree No. 64/97. (1997). Sultanate of Oman.

Royal Decree No. 29/93. (1993). Sultanate of Oman.

Appendix a

Organizational Structure of Royal Oman Police

Sultan Qaboos

Academy for Police Sciences

Div of ambulance

Dir of Police

Communication

Div of Financial

Inquires

Dir of Sports

Association

Dir of Police

Band

Dir of Public

Relations

Dir of Police

Clubs

Dir of Social

Welfare

Div of Juvenile

Police

Div of Mounted

Police

Dire of Special

Security

Headquarters

Special Tasks

Force

Headquarters

Al-Sharqia

Region

Headquarters

Al-Batinah

Region

Headquarters

Petroleum, Gas

installation

Security Police

Headquarters

Muscat

Governate

Headquarters

Dhofar

Governate

Headquarters

Al-Dahira

Region

Headquarters

Al-Wasta

Region

Headquarters

Al-Dakhliya

Region

Headquarters

Musandam

Govenate

Directorate of Coast Guards

DG of Transport

DG of Civil Status

DG of Maintenance

Projects

DG of Airport

Security

DG of Information

Technology

DG of Financial

Affair

DG of Civil Defense

DG of Customs

DG of Human

Resources

DG of Inquiries & Investigation

DG of Prisons

DG of Logistics & supplies

DG of Traffic

DG of Passports & Residence

DG of Operations

DG of Aviation

DG of Medical

Services

11

17

Directorate

General

Police

Headquarters

Division of Financial

Investigation

Office of Assistant IG

Assistant IG for Police & Customs

Inspector General of Police & Customs

DG of Development & Scrutiny

Office of the IG

Directorate of Legal Affairs

Special Branch

Specialized Directorates

5

6

Specialized Units

His Majesty Sultan Qaboos

The Supreme Commander of the Royal Oman Police

Royal Oman Police Organizational Structure