LOC17:27
14:27 GMT
RIYADH, Nov 3 (KUNA) -- The Conference and Exhibition of Road Safety and Sustainability kick-started in the Saudi capital, Riyadh on Sunday, with Kuwaiti Minister of Public Works Noura Al-Mashaan partaking.
The conference is co-organized by the Saudi Roads General Authority and the International Road Federation from November 3 to 4.
In a keynote speech, Saudi Minister of Transport and Logistics Services Saleh Al-Jasser said the kingdom has carried out several scientific innovations, including road cooling and rubber roads, and has moved in the road quality indicator to the fourth place among the G20 countries.
He added that Saudi Arabia has registered a drop in the traffic-related death rate by approximately 50 to exceed the defined goals of the kingdom's national transport and logistic services strategy.
For his part, Honorary Chairman of the International Road Federation Abdullah Al-Mogbel said the federation had harnessed modern technologies to make roads safer and more sustainable and efficient.
At a ministerial debate on the sidelines of the event, the Kuwaiti minister said Kuwait had signed a contract last month to maintain all roads in the country, be they highways or inner-city roads.
She added that Kuwait has managed to overcome some challenges in this regard, but efforts were still ongoing to defeat several others.
In this context, the Kuwaiti minister pointed to the data and information problem due to overlapping competences pertinent to traffic safety, saying that a relevant database was made by the Public Authority for Civil Information.
She added that Kuwait's temporal and spatial digital map was used to download all data so that it becomes a database for all competent bodies through which this data is analyzed to develop possible solutions for road safety.
Held under the theme: Innovating for Tomorrow, the event is mainly aimed at looking into a host of issues pertinent to traffic safety and road sustainability
It also focuses on international best practices, cutting-edge technological advancements, and the transformative role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) in shaping future transportation strategies.
The conferees also explore the role of AI and ITS in advancing sustainable mobility and how to use these technologies to optimize traffic management, improve vehicle safety, and reduce environmental impact. (end)
as.mt