Undercover officers from Jeddah traffic police are aggressively targeting motorists who cover up part of their license plate to avoid being caught by Saher speed cameras.
Since it was introduced two years ago, the automated traffic control and management system that covers major cities in Saudi Arabia and uses digital cameras linked to the Ministry of Interior’s National Information Center has been credited with saving countless lives in one of the most dangerous driving environments in the world.
According to the Interior Ministry’s annual traffic report for 2010, the average annual economic loss from traffic accidents in Saudi Arabia is estimated at SR 21 billion with the number of fatalities rising 10 percent in 2010 from 2009, according to Dr. Khaled Al-Eisa, supervisor general of King Abdulaziz Hospital in south Jeddah.
This figure works out at 19.1 deaths every day and makes the Kingdom’s roads some of the most dangerous in the world.
Regardless of the number of fatalities that have occurred and continue to occur, there remains a feeling of invincibility among many motorists who believe they are outsmarting the authorities by covering up their license plate numbers. And according to the traffic police, they are.
Zaid Al-Hamzi, the official spokesman for the Jeddah traffic police, saidSaher is indeed unable to register violations against vehicles whose license plates are altered.
Al-Hamzi said: “We are using the unmarked traffic patrols cars to find cars that have their plates covered.
“When part of the license plate is covered, the cameras are unable to register the violation.
“But when our secret patrols find a car with its plates covered, the vehicle is impounded (for at least a week) and the driver is forced to pay a heavy fine.”
According to a source at the traffic police, fines can be as high as SR 2,000 and there is an impound charge of between SR 50 and SR 100 per day to be paid for the time the vehicle is impounded, up to 30 days, making the illegal practice quite costly if caught.
Al-Hamzi denied that car decoration businesses sell the reflective white tape used to cover up the plates.
However, at several car accessory stores located in the industrial zone near the Jeddah airport, Arab News found the reflective tape readily available for SR10 per meter.
Mohammed Al-Amri, 19, was at one of these shops buying the reflective tape.
He spoke with Arab News saying he has had both license plates partially covered for over a month and has never been caught.
He was buying the new tape as the old one was beginning to peel away from the plate.
He said: “I speed all the time, and I was getting flashed by the cameras all the time.
“The cameras are showing up everywhere.
“In the beginning there were only a couple in Jeddah, on Madinah Road and Malek Road, and everyone knew where they were.
“But then Saher started putting the mobile cameras everywhere.
“You only see them when they flash you and then it’s too late.
“I got fed up and altered my plates and since then I haven’t had a single violation registered against me.”
To stay extra safe from the prying eyes of the police, Egyptian salesman Khaled Sayed, 31, also covers up his plates and avoids roads heavy with police patrols.
He added: “I’m not sure how much the fine is for covering up the plates but it can’t be as much as I would have paid had I not.
“Yes I like to speed and yes, I am stressed out that I will be caught, but everyone is doing it.”
Sayed admitted that he gets flashed by the cameras three or four times a month.
On average, Arab News saw eight cars a day over the past week that had their plates covered.
