“We are probably the only country in the world in which traffic signals come under the responsibility of traffic police.” These are the words of the chief of the National Commission for Traffic Safety, Dr. Ali Saeed Al-Ghamdi, who teaches transport engineering at King Saud University in Riyadh. He said he couldn’t understand how a country such as Saudi Arabia — where women who make up half the population do not drive and where alcohol, a major cause of traffic accidents, is banned still has such enormous numbers of traffic accidents.
Although the two points he mentioned should keep the number of accidents low, the situation is getting worse day by day as evidenced by Traffic Department statistics. Dr. Al-Ghamdi said he could find no justification for the Kingdom’s having almost the world’s worst record for traffic accidents.
It is indeed unfortunate to see our country lagging behind when it comes to safe driving. Apart from the daily loss of life and damage to property, accidents cost the national economy an average of four percent of the national income. This is double the figure reported by advanced countries where the figure is usually 1.5 percent or less.
Dr. Al-Ghamdi must be commended for his courage in saying that the problem is made worse by the way the public views officers on the street. Violations are committed under the officers’ eyes and violators are neither stopped or punished.
Order and discipline can only be restored to our streets if the standing and prestige of traffic officers is restored. This can only come about by the strict and full enforcement of the law — with no one being immune, especially those who think they can do whatever they like without being held accountable.
Awareness and education programs and campaigns, says Dr. Al-Ghamdi, will lead us nowhere and will never produce the desired results as long as the laws are ignored.
