Journal of King Saud University – Engineering Sciences 32 (2020) 19–26

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Journal of King Saud University – Engineering Sciences

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Original article

Development of a new traffic safety education material for the future

drivers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Seongkwan Mark Lee a,⇑, Abdullah I. Al-Mansour a
a
Civil Engineering Department, King Saud University, PO Box 800, Riyadh 11421, Saudi Arabia

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: According to the Global Status Report on Road Safety in 2015 from the World Health Organization
Received 1 August 2018 (WHO), road traffic injuries claim more than 1.25 million lives each year, and they are the leading cause
Accepted 18 November 2018 of death among young people aged between 15 and 29 years old. Road traffic fatalities in the Kingdom of
Available online 22 November 2018
Saudi Arabia (KSA) account for 4.7% of all mortalities and have plateaued over the last decade at 22–25
per 100,000 people. According to the Ministry of Interior (MOI) and Police department, 460,488 traffic
Keywords: accidents occurring on the roads in the KSA leading to 7489 deaths and 33,139 injuries, have recorded
Traffic safety
during 2017 (1438 H)
Traffic accident
Education
The improvement of drivers’ behavior through education, training, appropriate driver licensing and
Cartoon enforcement is recognized as a kernel in enhancing traffic and transport safety in the National
Questionnaire survey Transportation Strategy. Moreover, it is accepted as an urgent issue to implement and strengthen insti-
tutional frameworks and capacities as well as targeted activities in the area of enforcement, engineering,
education and emergency response on the national level. However, it is difficult to find any well-
organized school traffic safety education material in KSA. For this reason, the objective of this paper
was to propose a new traffic safety education material for children (under 13 years old) in KSA.
Firstly, traffic safety regulations, policies and traffic safety education programs were reviewed and
examined in the school of the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Korea, Japan, and Sweden.
Then the topics of the new traffic safety education material needed for children who will be the protag-
onists in KSA were chosen. In this new traffic safety education material, the utilization of various visual
aids has been emphasized on for children’s better understanding such as cartoons, graphics, and pictures
in the Arabic Language. Finally, questionnaire surveys were conducted to verify the effectiveness of the
new material.
It is expected that this research became an ignition in the KSA to respond to the global trend of inten-
sive attention to traffic safety. The new material is expected to be actively used mainly in schools and at
homes to correct the misbehaviors of road users, to decrease the mortality and morbidity from road traf-
fic accidents, and ultimately to cut off both direct and indirect social costs caused by road traffic accidents
in the KSA.
Ó 2018 The Authors. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of King Saud University. This is an
open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

1. Introduction
According to the World Health Organization’s Global Status
Report on Road Safety in 2015 (World Health Organization
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: slee@ksu.edu.sa (S. Mark Lee).
Peer review under responsibility of King Saud University.
Production and hosting by Elsevier
[WHO], 2015a), road traffic injuries claim more than 1.25 million
lives each year and have a huge impact on health and develop-
ment. They are the leading cause of death among young people
aged between 15 and 29 years, and cost governments approxi-
mately 3% of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Road traffic fatalities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia accounts
for 4.7% of all mortalities, while it does not exceed 1.7% in Aus-
tralia, the United Kingdom (UK), or the United States of America
(USA). Similarly, road fatalities in the KSA. have plateaued over
the last decade at 22–25 per 100,000 people, and it is much worse
when compared to 10 in the USA and 3 in the UK, where road
safety has been taken more seriously (Mansuri et al., 2015).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jksues.2018.11.003
1018-3639/Ó 2018 The Authors. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of King Saud University.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
20 S. Mark Lee, A.I. Al-Mansour / Journal of King Saud University – Engineering Sciences 32 (2020) 19–26
According to the KSA Ministry of Interior (MOI, 2017), and Police
department, 460,488 traffic accidents (approximately 1,476 acci-
dents per 100,000) on the roads, 7,489 of deaths (approximately
24 per 100,000), and 33,139 injuries (approximately 106.2 per
100,000) are recorded as the victims of traffic accidents during
2017.
In the National Transportation Strategy (Ministry of Transport
[MOT], 2011), improving drivers’ behavior through education,
training, appropriate driver licensing and enforcement is recog-
nized as a kernel in enhancing traffic and transport safety in the
KSA. Moreover, it is accepted as an urgent matter to implement
and strengthen institutional frameworks and capacities as well as
targeted activities in the area of enforcement, engineering, educa-
tion and emergency response on the national level. However,
unfortunately, it is difficult to find any well-organized traffic safety
education program or material for future drivers in the KSA (Lee,
1986; Al-Mansour and Al-Fozan, 1998).
In response to the global trend of intensive attention to traffic
safety such as the Decade of Action campaign (United Nations
[UN], 2016) and the efforts of the current government to establish
a better Saudi Arabian world vision such as the VISION 2030
(Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, 2016), this study tried to develop
educational traffic safety material which consists of ten important
topics on traffic safety for children, who will be the protagonists of
the future society. In this material, various visual aids for children’s
better understanding such as cartoons, graphics, and pictures were
utilized.
The main objective of this paper, as a product of a research pro-
ject titled ‘‘A New Approach for Traffic Safety Education of Future
Drivers in the Kingdom (KSU, 2017)”, is to describe the process of
developing, a highly desired, traffic safety material suitable for ele-
mentary school, namely grade 4 to 6 pupils or equivalent age, in
the KSA. In accordance with the research activities, the research
methodology can be summarized into four components: 1) review
Fig. 1. The number of traffic accidents per 100,000 people.
Fig. 2. Mortality rates from traffic accidents per 100,000 people.
of international traffic safety education programs, which target ele-
mentary school pupils or other similar age groups; 2) definition of
user needs for the new material; 3) development of target-specific
material and application of visual aids to it; and 4) evaluation of
the new material. For the review of traffic safety educational mate-
rials, specific information was gathered regarding the status quo
data in traffic safety training and education from selected countries
such as the USA, the UK, Germany, Sweden, Korea, and Japan.
2. Current status of traffic safety in the KSA
This section compares the KSA traffic accident statistics to the
selected countries that offer traffic safety education at elementary
schools. The comparison seems to highlight the need for some
early-age interventions, in the form of educational material, to
enhance vehicle-driving behavior in KSA.
According to statistics from the Organization for Economic Co-
operation and Development (OECD, 2017), on average, 235.8 traffic
accidents occurred per 100,000 people and the average fatality of
OECD was 7.3 people per 100,000 people in 2014. The WHO
reported in 2015 that every year the lives of approximately 1.25
million people are cut short as a result of a road traffic crash
(WHO, 2015b). Between 20 and 50 million more people suffer
non-fatal injuries, with many incurring a disability as a result of
their injury. According to the WHO report and newspapers in the
KSA in 2016, 1667.7 traffic accidents occurred per 100,000 people
and the figure is nearly seven times higher than the average of the
selected countries in this research (Fig. 1); the average fatality of
the KSA was 27.5 per 100,000 people (Fig. 2). This is about 3.8
times bigger than the average rate of OECD countries. For Figs. 1
and 2, data adapted from the OECD study (OECD, 2017) has been
utilized to generate the comparisons.
Additionally, the number of traffic accidents per 100,000 people
in Sweden in 2014 was 133.3, which is about 1/12.5 of what it is in
 S. Mark Lee, A.I. Al-Mansour / Journal of King Saud University – Engineering Sciences 32 (2020) 19–26
the KSA. Similarly, the UK suffered 235.8 crashes per 100,000 peo-
ple (1/7), Germany 373.5 crashes (1/4.5), Korea 443.3 crashes
(1/3.8), Japan 451.3 crashes (1/3.7), and the USA 516.8 crashes
(1/3.2). All developed countries suffered much fewer numbers of
traffic accident per 100,000 people; Their average was 359.0
crashes per 100,000 people, and the KSA scored about 4.65 times
higher than this number.
The fatalities due to traffic accidents per 100,000 people in Swe-
den in 2014 was 2.79, which is about 1/9.9 of what it is in the KSA.
Similarly, the UK suffered 2.87 deaths per 100,000 people (1/9.6),
Japan 3.81 (1/7.2), Germany 4.17 (1/6.6), Korea 9.44 (1/2.9), and
the USA 10.25 (1/2.7). All developed countries showed much fewer
numbers of traffic accidents per 100,000 people. Their average was
5.6 deaths per 100,000 people, and the KSA scored about 5.0 times
higher than this; the KSA has always ranked highly in deaths due to
traffic accidents in various world statistics. Although some devel-
oped countries such as the USA, Korea, and Japan show high figures
in traffic accidents, they comparatively have fewer fatalities. How-
ever, this is not true in the KSA.
3. Traffic safety education in selected countries
Although it is widely agreed that education of children is the
most cost-effective and sustainable shortcut, unfortunately, the
program for traffic safety is not part of the current curriculum in
the KSA; moreover, it suffers from the lack of educational materi-
als. For benchmarking purposes, various traffic safety education
programs were analyzed and summarized, which are under opera-
tion in advanced countries, and tried to find common topics among
them, including the USA, the UK, Germany, Korea, Japan, and
Sweden.
3.1. USA
Traffic safety education in the USA has a concrete legal basis on
the ‘Code of Federal Regulations,’ the ‘Safe, Accountable, Flexible,
Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users’, and the
‘Highway Safety Improvement Program.’
Regarding traffic safety education in school, after Alabama, Ohio
started traffic safety education in school for the first time in 1920,
it has been enforced to offer students traffic safety education by
law. The Transportation Safety Institute (TSI), which is an affiliated
organization of the Research and Innovative Technology Adminis-
tration (RITA) under the Department of Transportation (DOT),
operates one course for motorcyclists, three courses for highway
maintainers, and one course for freight carriers. It offers both the-
oretical lectures and practices concurrently for motorcyclists and
runs a comprehensive program for the employees in the National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) for their traffic
safety management works on highways. The NHTSA, since its
establishment in 1970 by the Road Safety Act, has established
safety performance standards for automobiles and equipment
and has been involved in driver behavior and safety-related work.
The American Automobile Association (AAA) is also contributing to
the prevention of traffic accidents by distributing traffic safety
information and educational materials for children, teenagers,
and general drivers to the public. Established by Congress in
1970, the National Highway Institute (NHI) has also been providing
quality service to the transportation community for more than
forty-five years. The Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) is a -
state-level government agency that was established in 1999 and
administers vehicle registration and driver licensing (TSI, 2017;
AAA, 2017; NHI, 2017).
For Public Awareness, the NHTSA operates various kind of traf-
fic safety awareness campaigns using advertisements (TV, radio,
21
and websites) and theme posters for bicycle safety, children’s
safety, drunk driving, and bike safety. It even distributes traffic
safety calendars which contain annual advertisement plan and
themes (NHTSA, 2016).
3.2. UK
Traffic safety education in the UK has a legal basis on the Road
Traffic Act which was established in 1988 and defined road safety
regulations, structure and use of vehicles and equipment, driver’s
licenses, and driving lessons and training. For the promotion of
road safety, the Road Traffic Act stipulates provisions of driver
training as follows; 1) Compulsory driver training courses, 2)
Requirements to complete training courses, and 3) Driver training
courses (supplementary). Also, the traffic safety education has a
legal basis on the Education Reform Act (ERA) which establishes
the right of students to receive continuous traffic safety education
through a balanced and broad education curriculum.
Following a public meeting in Caxton Hall in 1916, London
‘‘Safety First” Council was elected to tackle the ‘‘alarming increase
in traffic accidents,” and it became the Royal Society for the
Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), which has been at the heart of
accident prevention in the UK. The Department for Transport
(DfT) is also in charge of traffic safety and efficient operation of
transportation systems in the UK and supports traffic safety educa-
tion programs and materials for children and young drivers
(RoSPA, 2017).
Traffic safety advertisements in the UK, instead of giving direc-
tions or stating what they expect from drivers, they try to deliver
messages from which drivers can feel and become aware of the
importance of traffic safety, and also using thematic posters and
leaflets to guide drivers’ safe driving. The ‘‘THINK!” campaign of
the DfT to reduce traffic accident casualties is a good example.
The RoSPA also carry out campaigns on aspects of traffic accidents,
and they produce and distribute posters and leaflets that contain
information regarding the dangers of traffic accidents (DfT, 2017).
3.3. Germany
Fahrerlaubnis-Verordnung (FeV), the German Driving License
Ordinance stipulates that a driver, who is deemed in need of traffic
safety education by the Road Traffic Office or a public official, has
an obligation to do so; it also requests drivers to attend a supple-
mentary training seminar if he/she has committed two minor
offenses and one serious offense after getting a preliminary driver’s
license. In 1950, the federal law mandated traffic safety education,
and standards which are related to traffic safety education to the
elementary and secondary schools were provided. Germany, a fed-
eral state, is entrusted with the authority on education in each
state, and each of them independently exercises educational
administration (FeV, 2017).
Each State Department of Education accepts recommendations
on transportation education in schools as determined by the
1972 Ministerial Meeting of the Ministry of Education, which
establishes curriculums for traffic education in educational
instruction outlines and carries out education tailored to each
school conditions. Deutscher Verkehrssicherheitsrat (DVR, German
Road Safety Council) is an association founded in 1969 to promote
measures to improve traffic safety; it provides systematic and
granular educational programs and textbooks for children, adoles-
cents, and general drivers. Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil-Club
(ADAC), which was founded in 1903 as a member organization of
the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), is Europe’s
largest transport club. One of the most important roles of the ADAC
is to help children and young people learn about road traffic haz-
ards and to advise them on the right behavior on the road. In addi-
22 S. Mark Lee, A.I. Al-Mansour / Journal of King Saud University – Engineering Sciences 32 (2020) 19–26
tion to children and adolescents, special courses are offered to
female drivers, elderly drivers, and handicapped drivers (DVR,
2017; ADAC, 2017).
For public awareness in Germany, the DVR produces posters for
various fields such as over speed driving and safe driving, which
induce driver awareness and safe driving. Also, the DVR manufac-
tures and distributes radio advertisements and postings to prevent
speeding. Especially in the case of expressways, a large billboard is
installed to actively promote traffic accident prevention.
3.4. South Korea
Traffic safety education in Korea is backed up by the Road Traf-
fic Act and the Traffic Safety Act. The Road Traffic Act was made to
prevent and eliminate all risks and obstacles in traffic that occur on
the roads, thereby ensuring safe and smooth traffic. It specifies the
education before and after license acquisition. Those who wish to
obtain a driver’s license must complete the traffic safety education,
and those who suspend or cancel the driver’s license are obliged to
take special traffic safety education to prevent traffic accidents. The
purpose of the Traffic Safety Act is to contribute to the improve-
ment of traffic safety by stipulating the state’s or any local govern-
ment’s duties and promotion systems and policies concerning
traffic safety, and by promoting them in a comprehensive and
planned manner. As a national plan, the Traffic Safety Act requires
the ‘‘National Traffic Safety Basic Plan” to be established every five
years. The National Traffic Safety Basic Plan is a plan to broaden
road safety awareness, system improvement, and measures to
secure the safety of transportation facilities. The School Health
Act, the Child Welfare Act, and Act on the Prevention of and Com-
pensation for Accidents at School specifies various aspects of traffic
safety education of school (KLRI, 2017).
The Ministry of the Interior publishes traffic safety education
material. The National Police Agency and Korea Road Traffic
Authority (KoROAD) also run a traffic safety education program
for children, teenagers, and elderly people. There is a special,
new educational website for children named ‘‘KID Police Agency”
where children can get various educational materials for traffic
safety (KoROAD, 2017). Korea Transportation Safety Authority
(TS) operates traffic safety programs even for professionals and
truck/bus drivers using on/offline tools. For traffic safety, it is well
known that citizens’ voluntary involvement is very important. In
Korea, Citizens’ Coalition for Safety is trying to enhance the traffic
safety level from the cultural point of view by giving educational
lectures, making campaigns, visiting schools, and doing a lot of
activities related to schools. The traffic safety education website
‘‘GO119” is a good example of its outstanding activities (TS, 2017).
For public awareness on traffic safety issues, the Ministry of
Land, Infrastructure, and Transport (MLIT), National Police Agency,
KoROAD, TS, Citizens’ Alliance for Safe Living Practice, Korea
Expressway Corporation, and all local governments are jointly car-
rying out a traffic safety campaign with related agencies. To raise
social interest in traffic safety and to encourage voluntary partici-
pation, these are promoting theme- and target-appropriate cam-
paigns in Korea, including traffic safety campaign in school
zones. To prevent drunk-driving (which is a serious social prob-
lem), Korea is strengthening enforcement with public announce-
ments regarding the dangers and effects of drunk-driving.
Moreover, to encourage the public to participate voluntarily,
broadcasting media is well utilized for online and offline public
service advertisement purposes (MLIT, 2013).
3.5. Japan
Road Traffic Law in Japan introduces the Traffic Safety Educa-
tion Guidelines and Rules of the Road, which specify the standards
for traffic behavior with which pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers
should comply. The Traffic Safety Basic Plan provides official exam-
ples of issues, content, scope, and attainment targets relating to
traffic safety education as it stands at present, detailing these by
target and application, to ensure the effective promotion of traffic
safety education activities. The Traffic Safety Education Guidelines
detail the traffic safety education content and methods that pro-
vide opportunities to gain the necessary skills and knowledge for
driving motor vehicles and for preventing traffic accidents.
Safety education is carried out as part of the school education
through diverse forms in Japan. According to the Traffic Engineer-
ing Handbook 2008 (Japan Society of Traffic Engineers [JSTE],
2008), in school education, knowledge and skills are taught as part
of the curriculum in health and physical education classes and
related subjects, while the behavioral issues are taught as part of
safety guidance during homeroom periods, school events, student
activities, and extracurricular activities. The Safe Driving Central
Training Institute is Japan’s only comprehensive vehicle safety
driving education institute that fosters high-quality drivers and
driving leaders. The Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association
also organized the ‘‘Safety Action 21” program to create a traffic
safety education program targeting young people aged between
16 and 18 (high school age), as there is a high accident rate in this
age bracket (Japan Safe Driving Center [JSDC], 2017).
For public awareness purposes, the Japan Traffic Safety Educa-
tion Association undertakes various activities aimed at promoting
traffic safety education to foster safe traffic behavior, traffic safety
education in partnership with local communities, and cultivating
leaders in this field. In Japan, there are many organizations that
carry out traffic safety education under the auspices of prefectural
governments, municipalities, and prefectural police forces. The
activities undertaken by most of these organizations include traffic
safety classes for preschoolers, schoolchildren, and seniors; classes
in how to ride a bicycle safely; classes in how to ride a motorcycle
or moped safely; initiatives to cultivate traffic safety instructors;
and courses in the community or workplace aimed at creating safe
drivers.
3.6. Sweden
The Traffic Regulation of Sweden specifies provisions for wear-
ing seat belts and driving licenses and defines the details by
clauses. In the provisions related to seatbelts, drivers and passen-
gers of vehicles are obliged to wear seat belts and to equip the
car with child-protective car seats. Traffic safety education in Swe-
den can be shortly defined as being ‘‘from the cradle to the grave.”
When the baby is born, the local municipal government presents a
car seat (nine months of rental), and at age three, the National Soci-
ety for Road Safety (NTF) sends them a traffic safety education pro-
gram. Children’s traffic safety education starts at the age of three
and includes both a pre-school traffic safety program and a pre-
school education program; This is smoothly connected to the ele-
mentary school programs.
Organizations in Sweden for the Traffic Safety system are well
integrated. Major organizations include Nationalföreningen för
Trafiksäkerhetens Främjande (NTF, National Society for Road
Safety), Trafik Försäkrings Föreningen (Traffic Insurance Associa-
tion) and Säker Trafik AB (Safe Traffic). The NTF is a road traffic
safety organization in Sweden, which was established in 1934 as
a non-governmental organization that works to improve road
safety. The Swedish Traffic Insurance Association has supported
NTF from 2011 to increase the number of teaching hours with road
safety at school. Thanks to this support, NTF can maintain and fur-
ther develop a special website (NTF, 2017a). The site is intended as
a tool for educators with tips and ideas on how to integrate road
safety into daily education. The Safe Traffic is a road safety educa-
 S. Mark Lee, A.I. Al-Mansour / Journal of King Saud University – Engineering Sciences 32 (2020) 19–26 23

tion and consulting company and is included in the NTF group. It is
a specialized education agency that conducts training, audits,
investigations, evaluations, and assignments in the field of road
safety and the environment (NTF, 2017b; Säker Trafik, 2017).
4. Development of traffic safety education material
The contents of the proposed material could be structured
based on the reviews on the international traffic safety education
systems. To evaluate the effectiveness of the new material, same
questionnaire survey, in the form of multiple-choice questions,
was given to the pupils before a pilot training class and immedi-
ately after the class.
4.1. Contents and structure of the material
In general, the main contents of traffic safety education for chil-
dren include types and statistics of traffic accidents in which chil-
dren are involved, responses in case of a traffic accident and first
aid, and the introduction of various traffic control devices and
safety features as shown in Table 1. Since elementary school pupils
are more influenced by the road environment rather than direct
traffic behaviors such as a driving, it is necessary to deal with over-
all transportation system including traffic accidents and the overall
contents of traffic facility utilization for them to understand the
traffic environment. Also, it is important to design a coherent cur-
riculum in consideration of traffic safety education for adolescents
in the future.
After an in-depth analysis of the relevant age-group traffic
safety education system and materials of selected countries, the
following topics in Table 2 were chosen considering the local cul-
tural composition and driving behavior in the KSA. Of course, there
are some topics which were not currently covered in order to front
priority to the more important issues. Such excluded topics may be
further considered when updating the material in the near future.
The topics in traffic safety education material have been
designed so that elementary school pupils can easily learn from
their experiences in daily life. Additionally, pupils may correct
their mistakes by themselves through learning. The material is
composed of ten (10) chapters including Chapter 1. Safety for pas-
sengers; Chapter 2. Driving on highways and traffic signs; Chapter
3. Danger of driving in a drowsy condition; Chapter 4. Safety rules
for road driving breaks; Chapter 5. Dangers of using mobile devices
while driving; Chapter 6. Speeding; Chapter 7. Necessary responses
to traffic accidents; Chapter 8. Inclement weather driving; Chapter
9. Traffic safety in urban areas; and Chapter 10. Emergency vehicle
pre-emption (KSU, 2017).
The size of the material is 210 mm
297 mm (A4), which
makes it easy for children to handle. The total of 10 chapters has
been compiled into about 60 pages. To enhance the readability
and distinguishability of the text, the material compiles the size
and shape of the letters at around 12pt or larger. In addition,
because it contains lots of cartoons, drawings, and photographs,
the output is in color, and high-quality paper is used for printing
so that children can read with easy and high retention. The cover
page and samples of the safety educational material are demon-
strated in Fig. 3.
4.2. Conducting training and questionnaire surveys
After the development of the draft for the new educational
material, the process of evaluating its appropriateness was neces-
sary through the pilot training class. The pilot training was con-
ducted for two elementary school pupils (grade 4–6); one for
male and the other for female school students. In the pilot training
class, a major freeway trip from Riyadh, the capital city of the KSA,
to Jeddah, the main city in the KSA western region, was simulated
by applying the storytelling method; in order to indirectly deliver
the topics of the new material. To evaluate the material from the
instructor’s point of view, a questionnaire survey for 15 teachers
was conducted. For 49 children who attended the training class,
two surveys were also conducted before and after the training to
verify the effectiveness of the material.
Based on the survey given to the elementary school teachers,
100% of the teachers agreed to the necessity of a new traffic safety
education program and supported the legitimacy of the develop-
ment of new material. Regarding the question of evaluating the
satisfaction of the new material, 87% of the teachers showed a very
positive response. In addition, regarding the question of whether
the improvement is seen in the new material compared to existing
materials, 100% of the teachers answered positively (as shown in
Fig. 4).
In addition, 67% of the teachers showed a very positive while
33% showed a positive response to the cartoons which were used
to deliver the contents. This cartoonization was the most impor-
tant feature of the new material. In the assessment of the compo-
sition of the material itself, 87% of the teachers showed a very
positive response; 100% of the teachers responded that the sub-
jects covered by the material were overall satisfactory. Through a
questionnaire survey for the teachers, it was found that the new
material was overall developed satisfactorily.
However, they left additional comments which they want to be
reflected in the traffic safety education system in the KSA. Teachers
recommended liaising with relevant authorities to integrate the
traffic safety education into the KSA school curriculum and subdi-
vide the program over various elementary school grades. In addi-
tion, a suggestion was made to devote some of the school
activities to the traffic safety issue. Moreover, the teachers’ com-
ments highlighted the need for a similar material attending to
the safety aspect concerning school bus usage.
Two questionnaire surveys were also conducted on children,
the main subjects of this research. The primary purpose of the first
questionnaire was to assess how pupils perceive traffic safety and

Table 1
General topics which are dealt with in children’s traffic safety education.

General Specific General Specific

Traffic conditions and traffic
accident trend
Infant/children and traffic safety
 Changes in traffic conditions
 Traffic accident trend
 Infant/child traffic accident
 Infant/child traffic accident type
 Vehicle characteristics and risk
prediction
 First aid in the event of a traffic
accident
 Traffic laws for pedestrians
Traffic safety education for the infant/
children
Actual education (for kindergarten)
Children and traffic safety (for
elementary school)
 The necessity of traffic safety education
 The actual condition of traffic safety
education
 Efficient traffic safety education skills
 Objectives and contents of traffic safety
guidance
 Traffic safety guidance plan
24 S. Mark Lee, A.I. Al-Mansour / Journal of King Saud University – Engineering Sciences 32 (2020) 19–26

Table 2
Summary of topics to be included in the new material.

Topics Level Selection

General Specific
Human Drunk Driving Basic
p
Speeding and aggressive driving Basic
p
Using mobile phone, SNS* Basic
p
Wearing seat belts Basic
p
Compliance with dedicated lane use Basic
p
Parking in a shoulder lane Basic
Risk prediction / defensive driving Basic
p
Lane change Basic
p
Maintaining safety distance Basic
p
Drowsy driving Basic
Overload / poor loading Professional
Platooning Professional
p
Careless driving Basic
Drifting Average
Pedestrians Basic
Vehicle Inside and outside wheel Basic
Blind spot Basic
p
Speed and impact severity Basic
p
Stopping and safety distance Basic
Standing wave Basic
Curve & centrifugal force Basic
Vehicle inspection Average
p
Road / Environment Traffic signs Average
On/off ramps Average
Tunnel and bridge Average
p
Reactions in case of an accident Average
Safe driving at night Average
p
Adverse weather condition Average
p
Hydroplaning Basic
ITS ETC** Professional
C-ITS*** Professional
Traffic accident status Fatality/crash Average
p
Traffic accident types Basic
p
Causes of a traffic accident Basic
p
Accident treatment/First aid Traffic accident treatment Basic
Safety management Average
Highway Toll Average
Traffic information Average
p
Legal provisions Speed limit Average
p
Dedicated lane use Average
Bus exclusive lane Average
Road management authority Works and responsibilities Average
*
Social Network Services.
**
Electronic Toll Collection.
***
Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems).

Fig. 3. Cover page and sample content of the material.

 S. Mark Lee, A.I. Al-Mansour / Journal of King Saud University – Engineering Sciences 32 (2020) 19–26 25

Fig. 4. Answers from the questionnaire survey for teachers.

Fig. 5. Pupil’s response to the questionnaire before and after the training lesson.

Table 3
Paired T-test result to show the difference in answers according to gender. To check for differences in correct answer rates between male
Correct answer Correct answer and female pupils, the paired T-test was conducted under the
rate from females rate from males hypothesis that there is no difference in the correct answers
Mean 0.547 0.461 between genders.
Variance 0.058 0.077
Observations 16 16 H0: There is no difference between male and female students in the
Pearson Correlation 0.781
average correct answer rate
Hypothesized Mean Difference 0
Degree of Freedom 15 H1: There is a difference between male and female students in the
t Stat 1.877 average correct answer rate
P(T<=t) one-tail 0.039
t Critical one-tail 1.753
As a result, at 1%, 5%, or 10% significance levels, the null hypoth-
P(T<=t) two-tail 0.079
t Critical two-tail 2.131
esis H0 couldn’t be rejected. Statistically, there was no evidence to
claim that there is a gender difference in the correct answer rates
(as shown in Table 3). Therefore, the two data sets were grouped
to get ideas for the update of the topic and composition of our traf- for further analysis.
fic safety education material. The second questionnaire was to
compare pupil’s new perceptions from a pilot training class on traf- 5. Conclusions and recommendations
fic safety where the new material was used. First, in a question to
assess whether they know what traffic safety is, about 84% of stu- Comparative evaluation of traffic safety status showed the dare
dents answered in the affirmative; also, the second survey showed situation of the KSA in this regard. Accordingly, intervention has
a big improvement in their correct answer rate. There was about a become a necessity. Hence, a traffic safety educational program
24% increase after the training (correct answer rate: 49% to 73%) as has emerged as a possible rectifying tool among other already-
compared to before the training. This is demonstrated in Fig. 5. The existing measures. This is because an early traffic safety education
full details of the surveys, including the questions posed and feed- for children is believed as essential in reducing potential traffic
back obtained, are stipulated in the project report (KSU, 2017). accidents in the future.
These details were omitted due to the paper size limitations Through this research, four important results have been demon-
imposed by the publisher. strated as the followings:
Fig. 5 shows the amount of improvement achieved due to the
training lesson in each of the selected traffic safety area. It is worth 1. Early-age traffic safety educational programs exist in many
pointing that one question is posed at a time. It was noted from the countries around the world. Reviews of such programs provided
surveys that the traffic sign and human factor topics were slightly an idea and guidance for the development of a similar material
difficult for the pupils to understand. Consequently, a need rises to that can be effectively used in the KSA. The developed material
1) educate children with special interest and 2) prepare comple- is presented in the Arabic language, the official language in the
mentary lessons on these topics. KSA, keeping in mind the local cultural and religious values as
26 S. Mark Lee, A.I. Al-Mansour / Journal of King Saud University – Engineering Sciences 32 (2020) 19–26
well as the present negative car driving attitudes. It is also spe-
cial that most of the pages were allocated for cartoons in the
material for the pupils’ better understanding.
2. The developed material is found to be suitable in the sense that
it enhances traffic safety knowledge of the elementary school
pupils by approximately 24%. However, the effectiveness of
the program as a desired traffic accident-reducing tool in the
KSA will only be verified in future, when these learners reach
the driving age.
3. As far as gender is considered, the study reveals no difference
between male and female pupils in understanding the devel-
oped traffic safety educational material. Surprisingly, car driv-
ing has always been a male task in KSA and women driving
has recently been allowed. Hence, if incorporated in the ele-
mentary school curriculum, the educational material can be
considered as a favorable intervention at the right time for
responsible future female drivers.
4. The study indicated elementary school teacher’s appetite to the
developed traffic safety material. Teacher’s satisfaction will be
considered as the main catalyst towards the success of the traf-
fic safety program. Future work, considering larger teacher
sample size and geographical distribution of school, is recom-
mended to further consolidate this finding.
Further works are recommended to incorporate other elements
including care for pedestrian, drifting drive behavior and school
bus safety issues. Also, with the active utilization of the traffic
safety education material developed in this study, it is also
expected that the development of a series of traffic safety educa-
tion materials for adolescents, adults, and professionals to enhance
traffic safety in the KSA.
Acknowledgment
The work described in this paper is part of a research project
titled ‘‘A New Approach for Traffic Safety Education of Future Dri-
vers in the Kingdom.” The authors acknowledge the Research Cen-
ter of College of Engineering at King Saud University (KSU) for
funding the project.
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