JEDDAH, 1 September 2003 — The number of Saudis killed on the Kingdom’s roads increased by 32 percent from last year, according to a report issued by the first-aid service department of the Saudi Red Crescent Society.
The report, which covered the first quarter of this year, said the society’s ambulance service had attended 42,937 road accidents in the first three months of this year against 37,939 during the same period last year, registering an increase of 2.13 percent.
The 154 people killed in road accidents in the period compared to 125 last year. The number of Saudis injured in accidents soared by 5.48 percent while that of non-Saudis decreased by 22 percent.
Dr. Muhammad Sharif, an official at the department of training and ambulance service, said the society had also noticed a 5.9 percent increase in the number of patients suffering from chronic ailments including heart diseases.
The announcement by the Red Crescent came as several members of a Saudi family and a Jordanian family died in two separate accidents in Al-Ola and Hafr Al-Baten on Thursday.
According to Al-Jazirah newspaper, six members of a family died in a horrific accident on the Dhuba-Wajh Road. The jeep in which the nine-member family was traveling overturned after one of its front tires exploded because of speeding. The bodies of the accident victims were scattered as a result of the impact, the paper said.
