RIYADH, 11 December 2004 — Road accidents in the Kingdom could go up by 30 percent in the next 10 years unless urgent remedial measures are taken.
Addressing a workshop at the Saudi Traffic Show which concluded here on Wednesday, Director of Strategic Studies at the Arriyadh Development Authority (ADA) Abdul Aziz Al-Ghannam pointed out that in 2001 there were 1,350 cases of deaths caused by road accidents and another 5,400 people sustained serious injuries. “This number is expected to increase by 30 percent in 10 years unless remedial measures are taken by the authorities,” he said.
Ghannam said the ADA is adopting a wide range of road safety strategies to overcome the existing bottlenecks.
“Our strategies include organizing public awareness programs, implementation, introducing new road safety equipment and evaluation of the whole operations in cooperation with the traffic authorities,” Ghannam added.
ADA has ordered an 18-month project to analyze traffic on the capital’s roads, with the aim of increasing efficiency and improving road safety.
Saudi Arabia reports some half a million casualties from road accidents annually, 12 percent of which are fatal and around 10 percent involve under-age drivers.
According to a statement, speeding was the main cause of accidents. It revealed that in 2001-02 more than SR8 million was collected in traffic violation fines at the rate of SR22,000 per day. It said that a major portion of these fines was levied for speeding and running red lights.
The traffic department has imposed strict penalties for some traffic violations including jail sentences for crossing red signals.
According to the chief of the Riyadh Traffic Police, Col. Abdul Rahman Al-Muqbel 40 percent of the road accidents were due to speeding and running red lights. “An average of 130 to 150 accidents occur daily on the Riyadh streets including one or two fatal mishaps,” Muqbel said, adding that there were 479 fatalities in the Riyadh region in 2003.
As a result of the installation of high-tech cameras to book speeding motorists on King Fahd Road, the number of injuries and fatalities due to accidents has been reduced by 60 percent.
“Saudi Traffic 2004 which was developed from the Gulf Traffic 2003, is a forum for discussion and debate that will enable decision-makers in the Kingdom to formulate policies on road safety,” Davyd Farrell, Institute of International Research (IIR), Middle East, sponsors of the event, told Arab News.
“The proposed railway will greatly minimize the congestion of vehicles on the trunk roads and it would minimize traffic accidents on the highways,” said Farrell.
Other topics came up for discussion included pro-active road safety audits and freeway traffic operation and safety.
