The campaign to reduce road accidents, inaugurated in Riyadh by Prince Salman and in Jeddah by the city’s Governor Prince Mishaal ibn Majed, is one that every sane person in the country will welcome. The Kingdom has the highest rate of traffic-accident deaths in the world and this is completely unacceptable.
There are too many young men who, as soon as they are behind the wheel, are transformed into fiends, especially if they have two or three friends in the vehicle with them. They act as if they own the road, running the lights, weaving in and out of traffic lanes, the accelerator pedal pinned to the floor. In the wrong hands, a car can be a killing machine and that is unfortunately what they all too often become.
It is unfortunately not only young men who are guilty of driving dangerously. How many readers have seen the lunacy of fathers who drive with a baby or a small child between them and the wheel? And it is not uncommon to see boys driving who are obviously under age and who are scarcely able to see over the steering wheel — and sometimes even driving past the police who take no notice of the blatant offense. Nor are the dangerous drivers all Saudis. A good number of expatriates have brought their own country’s lax, or eccentric, driving practices with them to the Kingdom. The speed of taxis in Jeddah or Riyadh can sometimes be terrifying, with drivers apparently hoping to pick up at least another couple of fares within the next five minutes.
The problem, however, goes much deeper. There is a culture of careless driving throughout the Kingdom. Speed on the road will have to be cut if there are to be fewer accidents. But that will not be easy. The cities’ major thoroughfares were planned to encourage fast-flowing traffic. Speed was built into the design — but they were designed with far less traffic in mind. The answer will have to include traffic-calming measures, including more traffic lights — in short, a reversal of the recent trend to speed up the flow even more — and lower speed limits that are rigorously enforced.
That is one side of the coin. The problem is not simply drivers, it is also the police. Sometimes they stop offenders; at other times they appear to turn a blind eye. They need to be far more consistent in applying the laws. Most certainly, when this month-long campaign is over, there must be no slipping back into former ways. As Prince Salman said, the number of accidents has to be reduced. The reduction has to be permanent and not just for a single month.
What is most required is, of course, a change of attitude by drivers. For that to happen will, no doubt, require far tougher penalties — confiscating cars, punitive fines for careless driving, prison sentences for dangerous driving — with the police exempting no one, regardless of how important they are or whom they may know. It is long past time for Saudi Arabia to lose its spot as the world’s most dangerous country to drive in.
