It is good news that Prince Muhammad ibn Naif, assistant minister of interior for security affairs, has ordered the formation of a special committee to monitor violations by traffic officers on duty.
The directive charged the committee with laying down the rules that guarantee protecting the rights of all motorists, both Saudis and expatriates. Usually I am not impressed with committees but I feel this time it is a different matter. On several occasions, the young man who had the idea has shown himself to be up to the mark.
There have been many complaints about traffic officers and how they issue traffic tickets and also about violations registered secretly without the driver even being notified or stopped. It is only when he goes to renew his license that the driver discovers he has to pay for a violation he was never aware of.
In other countries drivers are notified within a week and given time to air their grievances and protest if they feel the charge is unfair. Checkpoints are set up at random to catch speeders with the result that traffic is disrupted at critical times. The role of officers should be to facilitate the smooth movement of traffic, not to obstruct it.
Police cars and motorcycles are regularly seen exceeding the speed limit for no reason. Driving at 70 kilometers per hour, I have seen several police cars and motorbikes pass me. It turned out that they were rushing to set up checkpoints! They were eager to punish others for speeding while failing to respect the speed limits themselves!
Motorists are ordered to pay fines without being able to object or appeal. When stopping motorists, the officers insist that the driver step out of his car and approach them while they are comfortably seated in the police car.
This is what happens although the instructions order the police not to do this. Sometimes the driver is summoned to the patrol car through a loudspeaker in a very rude manner.
It is fortunately true that the majority of officers treat motorists in a humane and considerate way but others behave as arrogantly toward drivers as they do to their domestic helpers.
And while we are talking about the traffic department — the size of the driving license in the Kingdom is too large for any wallet to hold. Why not make it smaller? And why not issue it in both Arabic and English so that it can be used while traveling abroad?
