What is the normal human instinct upon approaching an accident where there are injuries? The very least action is to call for help without intervening directly. Naturally when accident and emergency staff arrive at the scene of an accident, human instinct and professionalism spur them to do what is necessary on the spot and transfer all injured persons to hospital for additional care and treatment.
This is the case in most countries in the world; however it is not the case in the Kingdom. Injuries have to be identified and an investigation made into the cause of the accident before treatment. This delay has of course resulted in unnecessary deaths; the injured might have survived had they been treated early enough. Individuals could have been saved through resuscitation or could have had their bleeding stopped or controlled. Emergency personnel, however, lack the authority to give treatment before identification and investigation has been done and they are given orders to carry out treatment. An officer is the only person who has the authority to approach an accident victim before identification but this is usually useless if the officer has not had first aid training. Sadly, therefore, for many help comes too late.
One Saudi who does not want to be named told us his story with tears of grief in his eyes: "My brother from the Eastern Province was coming to visit me. When he did not arrive on time, I was afraid but received no news until the next morning. He had been killed in a car crash. I found out later that he had not died instantly. He was found but not given treatment because he had not been identified. By the time they contacted me, it was too late; he had already bled to death."
Bystander intervention is limited here; it is not encouraged for fear of false accusations and responsibilities caused by helping or reporting an accident. Another Saudi man pointed out: "Even though people like to help others, we try to avoid helping when there is an accident. Everyone just looks at the people hurt without doing anything because they are all afraid of being blamed in some way. I don’t know how this can change."
It is understandable that the authorities prefer to investigate as soon as an accident takes place. This is their responsibility but it makes no sense to leave injured people without medical aid. This waste of time is a waste of lives. Investigations can be carried out while the individuals are being treated. Surely the authorities are more likely get to the truth if the individuals are saved and recover to make a detailed statement. There are of course cases where accident victims are treated promptly because they can be identified straightaway. In such cases the system does not fail. Suspects and victims of an accident have the right to be given a chance to survive and tell their story before a verdict is passed. For example, let us say a thief broke into a house and was somehow injured and lay bleeding. If he were found, should he be given medical aid as soon as possible? Leaving him to die is not a just punishment for his crime and his survival would serve the investigation into what he had done.