JEDDAH: LG Electronics Saudi Arabia has launched a traffic awareness campaign under the slogan "Drive Safely" one of LG Electronics’ several social initiatives aiming at all segments of society urging vehicles drivers to abide by traffic rules and safeguard themselves and others against the hazards of the road.

The campaign was rolled out in cities across the Kingdom to achieve the highest levels of traffic safety for all. The campaign falls within the Traffic General Directorate’s strategic plan aimed to promote road safety and curtail traffic incidents.

The campaign, which is launched also in collaboration with Arab News, calls for mutual efforts to reduce the traffic accidents by raising and spreading traffic awareness and developing the culture of safety amidst the different segments of Saudi society.

Deuk Soo Ahn, president of LG Saudi Arabia, said: “The campaign reflects the LG Electronics’ commitment toward the community and boosts its role in social responsibility. The main objective of the campaign is to enlighten the people about the basics in road safety to help cut the number of drivers and people killed or injured due irrational conducts lead to disastrous outcomes, including not limited to exceeding the speed-limit (80 km/h), sudden harsh swerve, driving too close to other cars, not wearing the seat belt, getting busy with mobile phone, etc.”

He added: “Drivers should take all preventive measures and abide by the road directions to avoid the dangers, and this necessitates the need for more awareness and guidance in this respect.”

In his study titled "Road Accidents in Saudi Arabia," A.S. Al-Ghamdi attributed the Kingdom's fast economic growth resulting in a huge upsurge in vehicle ownership and the large expanding of modern road network, to the traffic accidents that have become a critical problematic case confronting the Kingdom.

Another study conducted by Wafaa Saleh under the title "Traffic accidents reductions in Saudi Arabia: Barriers and the way forward" concluded that the annual cost of traffic accidents in Saudi Arabia has been estimated to exceed $6 billion.

On the other hand, statistics indicate that one car accident happens every second and 17 people are being killed in crashes every day on average in Saudi Arabia.

Arab News, the leading English daily, reported that with the highest rate of road accidents and fatalities in the region, the Kingdom has among the world’s most dangerous roads.

Statistics from the General Directorate of Traffic show that the Kingdom has 23 deaths per 100,000 people, with on average 19.1 road fatalities occurring daily. The Kingdom may have four million traffic accidents a year by 2030. This means that a person will die on Saudi roads every hour if the country’s accident rate continues at its current pace. There are approximately 7,100 road fatalities every year and 38,000 seriously injured individuals, of whom 7 percent are permanently disabled.

Recently, the Council of Ministers approved the National Strategic Plan for Traffic Safety that has a key objective of framing a national traffic safety policy specifying broad future traffic plans and measures to cut road accidents. According to a study conducted by Hany Hassan, assistant professor of transportation engineering at King Saud University, there were 600,000 crashes recorded in the Kingdom in 2012, resulting in the death of around 7,638 people.

It is worth mentioning that traffic accidents take place due to many reasons. While bad roads or insufficient safety facilities may cause the traffic accidents, but the drivers' slackness in abiding by the road and safety regulations is considered as one of the direct causes of the accidents.

Other studies from a number of countries suggest that the proportion of drivers using mobile phones while driving has increased over the past 5–10 years, ranging from 1 percent to up to 11 percent.

Also, a new study confirms that the reaction time of cell phone users slows dramatically, increasing the risk of accidents and tying up traffic in general, and when drivers use cell phones while driving, they're exposing themselves to severe and harsh outcomes.

LG Electronics is so keen of all the issues concerning the safety of both drivers and people, by producing for example LG Smart Bluetooth headphones with high controlling capabilities that lets the driver keep his eyes on the road while his hands on the wheel. And with an aim to take the campaign’s mission forward, LG Electronics strives to add value to the communities at large by undertaking initiatives that promote the culture of safety among Saudi nationals and expatriates as well.