JEDDAH, 17 July — A senior police official said yesterday that traffic policemen had booked 777 motorists — 255 of them expatriates — in a single day for violating the rule for passing roundabouts.
“Those violations were sighted at 13 of the city’s 56 roundabouts,” Lt. Col. Muhammad Al-Qahtani, director of Jeddah police, told a press conference. He said a fine of SR300 was being imposed for the “third category” offense.
The department released a report on accidents in Jeddah during the past month. It said 6,001 accidents were registered in the city during the period. At least 22 people were killed and 178 others injured in the accidents, which completely damaged 6,701 vehicles.
The accidents involved 6,469 small cars, 1,312 jeeps, 410 buses, 1,347 pick-ups, 1,926 trucks, 622 water tankers and 652 other vehicles. The report said 790 people involved in the accidents were under 18 years, 4,410 between 18 and 30 years of age, 2,545 people were between 40 and 50 and 2,002 people were over 50.
Al-Qahtani said the number of traffic violations during the past month was 124,902, of them 58,232 involved Saudis. In 28,686 cases of violations, both the drivers and passengers were not wearing seat belts.
5 killed in Ahsa: Five members of a Saudi family were killed and three others wounded when their vehicle overturned several times after being hit by a speeding car, a newspaper reported yesterday.
Al-Jazirah Arabic daily said the accident took place in Ahsa province as the family was returning from summer holidays in a neighboring Arab country. The father, mother, two sons and a daughter were killed in the crash.
Saudi Arabia has one of the world’s highest rates of road accidents.
