Oman traffic: Year's toll rises to 16 as crashes on Salalah Road kill 4, injure many

Muscat: After two accidents on Friday left four dead and nine injured, the Salalah Road death toll has risen to 16 so far this year.
“A collision between two vehicles in Wilayat Haima has left four Asian nationals dead and two citizens critically injured,” the Royal Oman Police (ROP) said.
Read here: Four dead after cars collide in Haima
Nine members of an Omani family were injured in the second car crash later that day.
Also read: Nine injured in second car crash in Haima
ROP said the family were travelling on the road between Al-Ghaftin and Maqshan in Haima towards Dhofar when the accident took place, and that nine members of the family sustained varying levels of injury.
Three of the injured Omanis were airlifted by an ROP helicopter to be transported to the Nizwa Hospital.
Eight people died after an accident on the road to Salalah in the first week of August, bringing the death toll to 12 for the year. The latest fatalities means a total of 16 lives have been lost on the road in the first eight months of the year.
Oman’s government recently reported a substantial decrease in the number of road accidents in the Sultanate for the first half of 2017, citing an 18 per cent drop. The number of deaths also declined by 6.5 per cent.
The National Centre for Statistics and Information reported that there were 314 fatalities in the first half of 2017 alone, not counting the deaths in July. Campaigners say that while accidents are decreasing, black spots are continuing to claim many lives.
Ali Al Barwani, chief executive officer of the Oman Road Safety Association, said warning signs might be a good way to alert drivers.
“These days, you see cameras and radar detectors for speeding everywhere, but maybe we should have some road signs to make people aware of the deaths that have happened on the road, or to tell them about the dangers of specific accidents. That is a big part of what needs to be done to revise road safety awareness in Oman,” he said after the early August crashes.
“To have eight people dead in one accident alone is not a small matter. 12 people died in car accidents on the road between Dakhiliya and Salalah. 12 more were injured. Of these, almost half were non-Omanis. There needs to be a serious, serious rethinking, because sharing the statistics of accidents alone does not seem to do enough,” added Al Barwani.
“We must ensure that activities and regulations are properly followed. Whether it is a seat belt awareness campaign, or a child seat campaign, or one for speeding, it is important to make sure that these practices are followed.”