The Saudi press reported recently about the call by the National Society for Human Rights to speed up the process of establishing traffic courts in order to ease up the pressure on traffic departments. Traffic Department Manager Gen. Fahd Al-Bishr has submitted his suggestions to the responsible authorities to study the matter and speed up the process to establish these courts.
Recently authorities initiated a campaign titled “Enough!” I praise the effort to bring sanity to the notorious traffic habits in the Kingdom. I call on all drivers and traffic officials to work together to save lives by reducing traffic accidents, which, according to official statistics, injured 40,000 people (not counting the dead or the financial losses) in one year alone. The main cause of these accidents are running red lights and speeding. Most drivers that cause accidents are teenagers. Despite the law, which states that the minimum driving age is 18, drivers much younger than that are often seen behind the steering wheel driving with impunity.
We have to be fair and not fully blame traffic authorities, overwhelmed by urban sprawl in cities like Jeddah. In order to apply the term “Enough!” we must improve our collective habits, be it through educational campaigns or simple common sense. And authorities alone cannot impose such changes. It is up to the people to apply their reason, not their egos, to their driving habits.
