A number of government girl school principals have supported the call and asked for traffic police to be also stationed in front of the schools beside the security guards to organize traffic at the peak hour when students are leaving the school.

The principals said the traffic police would not only help in smooth dispersing of the crowds of cars, but would also help young girls cross the streets and transport sick students to emergency wards in hospitals.

Sara Al-Askar, principal of secondary girl school number 177, said many of the school guards were old men who are not strong enough to carry out their duties, let alone organize traffic.

She called for the creation of a special security force, whose sole duty is to organize traffic in front of the schools at the end of the school day. She also called for the establishment of medical clinics in the government schools similar to those in private schools.

Nawal Al-Oud, principal of girl school number 144, totally agreed with Al-Askar and said the girl schools were in need of security men in addition to the guards. She said the congestion of girls and cars at the end of the school day should be organized to save the girls’ lives.

Lieut. Col. Hassan Al-Hassan, head of the command and control center at the directorate general of traffic, supported the call for the creation of a special security force for the girl schools, but said it was impossible for the traffic police to station its personnel in front of each government school.

“It will be impossible for the traffic police to have teams covering all government schools for boys and girls. We simply do not have a sufficient number of traffic cars to send to every school,” he said, adding that the department did not have the ability or the resources to organize traffic in front of every school in the Kingdom.

Al-Hassan, however, said whenever there was a traffic accident near any of the schools, traffic patrols would be immediately dispatched to the scene. “We can always do this, but to be stationed permanently before schools is an impossible task,” he added.