Editorial: Danger on the roads

As if perfectly serviceable Saudi roads are not unsafe enough, with dangerously speeding vehicles and inattentive drivers, all too often with a mobile telephone glued to their ears, road works are causing a rising toll of crashes and deaths.
The General Directorate of Traffic in Riyadh has this week warned that companies carrying out road repairs will be held liable for poorly signed and patrolled works. The directorate says that it has roving inspectors who are imposing fines on dangerously managed road works and construction. It has also warned that firms guilty of bad practice that leads to wreck will be liable to pay compensation to anyone injured as a result of their negligence.
A similar problem has emerged on Madinah’s third ring road, because the carriage ways have had to be narrowed as a result of work on the 500-km Haramain High Speed Rail project linking the city to Makkah. At certain points the road is so narrow that it is dangerous to try and pass slow-moving trucks. Police report that motorists are taking a diversion along the Madinah — Jeddah expressway, which is in need of upgrading and repair. As a result more crashes are occurring.
There can be no doubt that contractors working on roads all too frequently neglect elementary precautions. Signage is sometimes nonexistent or has been knocked over by passing vehicles, more often than not trucks, and no one has bothered to put it back up again. In these circumstances, there can be no doubt that the firms involved in the work share a large part of the blame. If someone drives into a large, unmarked hole in what appears to be clear road, then the contractor is the main culpable.
Equally, it is not unknown for country roads to deteriorate badly but the authority responsible fails, for what ever reason, to organize the repairs. In this case, drivers who end up in a wreck because of this neglect have a sound case to claim damages and compensation from the authority whose duty it is to maintain and upkeep that bit of highway.
However in the end, the responsibility for the safe driving of a vehicle rests with the driver. Such is the low standard of road craft in the Kingdom, which, to its discredit, has one of the highest road wreck death tolls per capita in the world, that every driver ought to be expecting the unexpected. Yet all too often people speed along as if they owned the road, in complete disregard for any dangers ahead and with little or no consideration for other road users.
Thus, many of the crashes on the Madinah ring road are caused by drivers who ignore warning signs and refuse to adjust their speed and driving to the increased danger. It has been argued that the contractors on the high speed rail line have not done a good job of minimizing the obstruction caused by their works. In at least one spot, it is alleged that construction machinery was seen on at least one occasion, to be using part of the open highway to maneuver. Fortunately this did not produce a collision.
It is right that the authorities should hold contractors responsible for death and damage caused by their inadequate and poorly planned safety provisions. However by the same token, drivers too have to suffer penalties if they fail to pass roadworks with due care and caution.
It has been said before, but bears repeating, that on the road, there are virtually no accidents, except for the likes of rock falls or floods. Everyone who takes the controls of an automotive vehicle, has the ability to drive safely and carefully. If they pay full attention to the road conditions ahead, concentrate properly on their driving and constantly anticipate a sudden change of circumstances, which could produce a dangerous situation, then they will arrive at their destination, in one piece.
If however they race along, like all too many motorists in the Kingdom, ignoring all indications of risk, then it will be no accident if they end up in a wreck, perhaps killing themselves and any passengers or other road users. If, on the other hand they survive, then they, every bit as much as sloppy contractors, should be fined and held accountable for their dangerous road behavior. The Saher traffic system has demonstrated that speeding motorists have sensitive pocket books. If drivers knew there was a good chance they would be prosecuted if they caused a auto wreck, perhaps they would improve their conduct when they get behind the wheel.