More than 5,000 people dead. That was the latest figure released concerning the number of fatalities resulting from road accidents in the Kingdom.
For those who may think this is the total number of accident victims who lost their lives on our streets and highways, wait to hear this. Statistics tell us that the published figures are only of the people who died at the scene of accidents. By the way, the number of accidents reported last year was a staggering 300,000. Those who are injured and carried away by ambulances and who later die of their injuries in hospitals are not included in the 5,000 but in other, more horrifying, statistics not issued by the Traffic Department.
Dr. Ali Al-Ghamdi, chairman of the National Safety Commission, decried the situation as an “unprecedented threat” to the country. According to him, it should start alarm bells ringing all over the country. For traffic accidents to claim the lives of 5,000 people is totally unjustifiable and indicates that the problem is indeed worsening instead of diminishing.
The Shoura Council is currently debating new traffic legislation drafted after a study lasting for four years. The most important aspect of the new system, said Dr. Abdul Jalil Al-Saif, member of the Shoura Council security committee, is the strict monitoring and forceful implementation of the rules contained in it whereby every one would be treated equally with no exception.
While Dr. Al-Ghamdi spoke of an exacerbated situation that calls for urgent action, Dr. Al-Saif mentioned the strict application of the new traffic law.
But for me, and perhaps many others, the real problem lies with the Traffic Department itself whose failure throughout the years to curb the chaos in our streets has resulted in the carnage going on now. Things have gone out of control and the result is these alarming monthly and annual figures. The department is either facing a structural and organizational problem with the gear it uses contributing to the problem or the department is facing a shortage in human and material resources that has led to its inability to deal with the situation.
Is there a third possibility? I don’t see any third possibility or maybe officials at the department will present us with the usual excuse of a lack of awareness among the public. Do they want to wait until the figure crosses the 100,000 mark before they do anything?
If this happened the department would surely enter the Guinness Book of World Records and hold the record for the next thousand years.
