JEDDAH, 24 June 2007 — Car accidents cause the deaths of at least 4,000 people, injuring over 30,000 others and incur financial losses of over SR21 billion each year, and is one of the biggest problems currently facing the Kingdom, according to a leading Saudi researcher.

Naif Al-Shammary said the economic losses suffered by the Kingdom would hit a staggering SR55 billion by 2020. “The Kingdom would also require SR25 billion to treat some 50,000 people with spinal cord injuries,” he said, adding that over 50 percent of people involved in road accidents in the Kingdom were below 40 and that at least 2,000 people become permanently handicapped each year.

During the last 25 years from 1980 to 2005, more than 749,000 people either died or suffered injuries from traffic accidents. “More than 30,000 people are injured annually. About six to seven percent of them become permanently handicapped. This means that every year about 2,000 become permanently handicapped and remain like that,” he explained.

“According to conservative statistics, traffic accidents cause material losses worth SR21 billion, which is 4.7 percent of the gross domestic product,” he said. The cost of treating an injured person at hospital for one year ranges between SR300,000 and SR500,000.

Al-Shammary emphasized the need to increase the role of the Saudi Red Crescent Society (SRCS) in handling people injured in road accidents. “Citizens must also be trained to provide first aid to the injured,” he added. At present, the SRCS is able to attend to only 44 percent of road accidents that take place across the country.

The society also lacks an adequate number of doctors and paramedics to attend to a growing number of road accidents. According to one study, about 81 percent of people who got spinal injury in road accidents were taken to hospital by members of the public. Only 17 percent were taken in SRCS ambulances.

Al-Shammary said he decided to conduct a research on road accidents after realizing the terrible nature of the problem. Most passengers involved in car crashes are either left dead or handicapped, he said.

He said the Kingdom lacked a national center for traffic research and a national database on accidents. Such a data center is essential to understand the enormity of the problem and crucial in order to take necessary decisions by the authorities to improve traffic safety.

“It has been found that more than 50 percent of road accident victims in the Kingdom are aged less than 40. This means that youngsters and productive people are mainly involved in car accidents, something that threatens the Kingdom’s development,” he said.

According to Al-Shammary, the annual economic losses suffered by the Kingdom from accidents were double the figure of losses met by industrialized countries. He said no study had been conducted to find out the economic losses caused by accidents.

“We can imagine the great social impact of road accidents as they claim lives of at least 4,000 people and cause injuries to 30,000 others every year,” he said. Until the year 2004 at least 90,000 Saudis had lost their ability to move as a result of accidents, he added.

Of the total cases of death received by the emergency department in the Central Riyadh Hospital, 70.2 percent were road accident victims, the researcher said. About 73.6 cases of paralysis in the Kingdom were also caused by accidents.

According to a report issued by the traffic department, 283,684 traffic accidents took place last year, resulting in the deaths of 5,883 people. The report showed a 2.2 percent decrease in accidents compared to the previous year. It also showed that three people died every three hours last year as a result of accidents.