International Journal of Civil and Structural Engineering Research ISSN 2348-7607 (Online) Vol. 6, Issue 2, pp: (81-93), Month: October 2018 - March 2019, Available at: www.researchpublish.com
THE NATURE OF ROAD DESIGN: RISKY TO MANAGING HARGEISA-BERBERA HIGHWAY SAFETY, SOMALILAND Eng. Mohammad Ahmad Yahia School of Graduate Studies and Research (SGSR) Gollis University, Somaliland
Abstract: Traveling through Hargeisa-Berbera highway that is used by increased car populations without any traffic control systems comes with unprecedented number of accidents. This thesis proposal navigates into the nature of the road design and how risk it is in the management of highway safety. This highway is predominantly unsafe when it comes to road safety. Road traffic crashes are covered in the media as events—not as leading killer of people and an enormous drain on a country’s citizens but also a disruption of economic connectivity. A qualitative investigation involving in-depth interviews, participant observations, and experimentation and focus group discussions were the major methods of data collection. The main argument in this paper is that design of a highway using best practices could minimize the notorious highway fatalities to save more lives and accelerate and connect Hargeisa-Berbera road safety. It is also important to note that paving a highway by any standards does not guarantee reduction in the associated fatalities. Government must ensure all citizens (drivers, passengers and pedestrians or inhabitants living along the highway) are educated on highway safety to save more lives and property. Keywords: Highway, design, road safety, Hargeisa and Berbera.
I. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background to the Study Roads play an important role in connecting regions and markets for trade and service delivery. No country can build a sustainable economy without resilient road network connecting all business centres and people. However, designing sustainable roads in a developing post-conflict country can be met with operational challenges. This research paper explains the background issues regarding the existing design for road construction in Somaliland. Some brief literature has been examined and then arriving to stating and conceptualizing the problem under study. The study stated the purpose and outlined specific objectives that have been addressed in the analysis section. Road designing is an economic priority in the view that roads are the main pillars of regional connectivity. This perspective is a global reality. World‘s populations, goods and services are mainly transported by road transportation means. In Great Britain, 90% of passenger journeys were by road in 2014 … while the distance travelled by car or vans has increased by over 1000% (George & Kershaw, 2016). This mode is not likely to have changed today. According to empirical findings by WHO revealed startling statistics recording approximately 1.3 million people‘s annual deaths on the global road crashes … with number expected to rise to 1.9 million by 2025 (cited in Kapila et al., 2013). Action is awaiting governments of the world to mitigate the anticipated road disasters. Road transport is a very dominant mode in the African continent with echoing road safety as a major concern. Southern Africa is particularly marked by deteriorating roads due to traffic loading and environmental forces not limited to rainfall, ultraviolet radiation and temperature (Maina, 2008). As if this is not enough, road traffic mortality in Africa has been
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