Welcome U-turn: Alerting motorists about Saher ‘noble act’

JEDDAH: Alerting motorists about Saher cameras is actually a favorable thing to do because it not only saves the driver from paying a fine, but also results in reducing the speed of his vehicle, a scholar has said.
Sheikh Mohammad bin Mohammad Al Mukhtar Al-Shanqeeti, member of the Council of Senior Scholars, said this in his reply to a fatwa request. He said that in advanced countries, the authorities install warning signs before a car approaches the camera’s location in order to control the speed and foil other traffic violations.
“This applies at the local level, where warning signs should be installed at enough distances to alert motorists that cameras are installed in a particular location,” he said.
Only a month ago, Sheikh Ali bin Abbas Al-Hakami, another member of the council, had termed the act of alerting other motorists as immoral and “un-Islamic,” and had called on drivers to abide by the traffic rules.
Sheikh Al-Shanqeeti, however, said: “This favor (alerting other motorists) will help our Muslim brother, and may be rewarded by that. Sometimes the driver is speeding under some circumstances, not out of fault or to intentionally violate the traffic regulations.”
He said the salary of some drivers does not exceed SR3,000, so helping them might be rewarded.
There have been reports of many people trying to avoid being caught by Saher cameras on the Kingdom's roads through various means. Besides alerting others by flashing the headlights, some unscrupulous elements indulge in taping over or removing their license plates.