Road Traffic Violations and Seat Belt Use in Kuwait: Study of Driver Behavior in Motion

Despite heavy investments in the transportation infrastructure and the existence of a young vehicle fleet, road safety in the affluent State of Kuwait continues to decline. Poor driver behavior and lack of enforcement of traffic regulations are believed to be the main causes of the unsafe driving environment. The findings of a research project designed to examine the relationship between seat belt use and road traffic violations in Kuwait are reported. The traffic violation behavior of 821 randomly selected drivers was recorded while the drivers were followed to their destinations. Factors of nationality, age range, gender, roadway type, vehicle type, time of day, trip time, and trip distance were also monitored. The average sample nonuser of seat belts made more than twice as many violations both per kilometer of travel and per minute of trip time than did seat belt users. Seat belt nonusers and young drivers (especially Kuwaitis) were found to be overrepresented in the violating groups, and discriminant analysis successfully discriminated between the high and low violators of traffic rules.