Yarmouk University is proud for having one of its graduates named as the winner of the third place in the Highway Safety Information System (HSIS) Student Research Paper Competition 2023. The Yarmouk graduate Hamza Bani Khalaf, who is serving now as MA graduate research assistant in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Cleveland State University, has been awarded the third place in the competition for his paper entitled: “Using Probabilistic Reasoning Approach on Road Familiarity, Distracted Driving, At-fault, and Crash Injury Severity in Work Zone Crashes”. This project studies work zone crashes aiming at developing a Bayesian Networks model – a model for reasoning “what-if” questions – to explore the relationship between drivers’ roadway familiarity, distracted driving, at fault, and crash severity at work zones. Thus, it highlights that BN reveals the probability of a work zone crash involving a distracted familiar driver increased by 9.84 percent and decreased by 21.93 percent for the unfamiliar drivers to be distracted. Familiar drivers had 0.66 percent higher probability of being at-fault in work zone crashes while unfamiliar drivers had 1.48 percent lower probability of being at-fault. The results produced by BN indicate that adverse weather increased the probability of injury severity in work zones crashes by 22.67 percent. However, the approach put forth in this study may serve as a valuable tool for decision making and enable evidence-based recommendations for improving work zone safety.

Upon receiving the award, Hamza said, "I am deeply committed to work as hard as possible to prevent crashes on roads worldwide through the HSIS data, which has proven to be an invaluable resource for providing researchers with abundant information necessary to investigate work zone safety”. He adds, “winning the third place has sparked a deep sense of inspiration, thus motivating me to keep working to set greater future goals. I would also like to express my deep appreciation to my supervisor, Professor Kidando, for his invaluable support and guidance throughout this endeavor.”