JEDDAH: Saudi authorities are planning to establish specialized academies in various parts of the Kingdom with the support of banks and automobile companies in order to conduct traffic safety courses to drivers as part of efforts to reduce the growing number of road accidents in the country.
Safra Academy for Safety Driving, which has been established in Obhur, north of Jeddah, is first of its kind not only in Saudi Arabia but also in the Arab world, says Mishaal bin Abdul Aziz Al-Suleiman, its president. “We are the only traffic safety academy licensed by the Ministry of Interior so far,” he said.
The academy has nine partners: The Ministry of Education, the Traffic Department, Safra Company, an affiliate of Xenel Group, Nissan Middle East, American National Academy (ANA), the British Royal Society for Prevention of Accidents, Jeddah Community Council, Arab Organization for Traffic Safety and United Sibak Company.
“You can see several such academies in developed countries. Some of these countries insist that those who want to get driving licenses should attend the training courses provided by these academies,” Al-Suleiman said.
These academies, he says, are not an alternative but complementary to driving schools “because these academies create awareness about safe driving.”
Al-Suleiman said the new traffic law encourages the private sector to establish traffic academies. “We expect within the next few years a number of traffic safety academies will come up in various parts of the Kingdom,” he said, adding that some of them would provide their services commercially.
Safra is financed by private companies and provides safety training courses free of charge to both citizens and expatriates, Al-Suleiman said. “We are now ready to provide courses — theoretical and practical — for both men and women,” he told Al-Madinah Arabic daily.
“We have two types of courses. The first one is given at the academy’s headquarters in Obhur while the other will be given at places of work,” Al-Suleiman said. He said the courses for women and girls will be conducted in schools and universities with the help of female trainers.
Safra has started receiving applications from the public. A single course will take only six hours.
Prince Faisal bin Saud, chairman of United Sibak, and owner and manager of the academy, yesterday signed an agreement with the Department of Education in Jeddah, in the presence of Gov. Prince Mishaal bin Majed, to provide training to secondary school students and students of special needs.
Al-Suleiman said the academy was holding serious talks with automobile companies, agents, banks, installment service companies and insurance firms to finance courses for their clients.
“Some of them have already expressed their readiness to participate,” he pointed out.
