Back in 2010, Kunhadi attempted to identify the leading cause of traffic crashes by offering the Lebanese Red Cross a software program to gather traffic crashes data collected from Antelias – Byblos highway. The study showed that excess of speed accounts for over than 70% of traffic collisions – both fatal and non-fatal.
The organization approached the Prime Minister and the Minister of at the time with a study showcasing that by strictly enforcing speed limits, we can decrease road crashes by 35%. In fact, speed regulations, implemented throughout two months in 2011, were able to reduce traffic crashes by 35%.
The organization president, Mr. Fady Gebrane explains that yearly traffic crashes cost USD 1.4 Billion, thus, hindering economical development by 3.3%.
Gebrane stated if speed limits alone were strictly enforced, they would reduce the toll of traffic crashes by 35%, leading to an additional increase of 1.5% in GDP growth.
“That is to say, that while the Governor of the Central Bank expected a 1.5% growth in 2015, implementing the speed limits could raise the growth even further to reach 3%”.