Saher records 64,500 traffic violations in Jeddah in 21 days

A whopping number of 64,523 traffic violations were recorded with the help of speed-monitoring cameras (Saher) in Jeddah in the past three weeks with Saudis accounting for 39,093 of the total violations and the remaining 25,430 non-Saudis.
Revealing this to Arab News, Col. Waslallah Al-Harbi, director of Jeddah Traffic Department, said the traffic violations included speeding, cutting red light, not giving priority within the city limits, use of cell phones while driving and not fastening seat-belts.
Other violations included double parking and throwing out rubbish from the vehicle.
Stating that the focus of the department was on violations that affected traffic safety, Al-Harbi said that during the same period of three weeks, 514 vehicles violated traffic regulations of which 474 belonged to Saudis while non-Saudis accounted for 40 vehicles. Most of these violations involved youngsters who lacked awareness which nevertheless, resulted in many traffic accidents.
These violations also included masking or removal of vehicle license plates.
Al-Harbi pointed out that marked and unmarked police patrol cars were always on the move to monitor traffic violations to act as a deterrent to offenders.
“According to Article 68 of the Traffic Laws, vehicles found violating rules including removal or masking of license plates will be impounded for five days. The owner will be fined a minimum of SR 500 which can go up steeply if there is a repeat violation besides it being treated as a criminal case rather than just a traffic violation,” Al-Harbi said.
Urging all car users to abide by traffic rules and regulations so as not to be held legally accountable for any violations, Al-Harbi also had some interesting anecdotes on traffic violations. Citing an example, he said that Osama Al-Bariqi, a 28-year-old resident of Jeddah, had to cough up over SR 5,000 in fines he had accumulated on account of various traffic violations ranging from crossing a red light and not fastening the seat belt to masking his license plates.
When Al-Bariqi, who had not paid the penalties, wanted to renew his passport, he was told that he would have to pay all traffic fines in one go, failing which his passport would not be renewed. He was forced to pay the money, because he was going on a holiday with his friends.
The youngster said he had learned his lesson from this experience and promised himself to abide by traffic laws and regulations to avoid further penalties.