The new national traffic safety strategy recently approved by the Council of Ministers would reduce accidents on the country’s roads by 70 percent in the long term, according to a senior official.
Abdul Hameed Al-Muajil, chairman of the Saudi Society for Traffic Safety, said there would be a 30 percent reduction in traffic accidents in the short term.
Al-Muajil said government bodies would help implement the plan, including municipalities, the Red Crescent, the ministries of health, education and interior, and the Saudi Electricity Company.
Al-Muajil said: “Experts, academics and other parties concerned with traffic safety will participate in the implementation of the plan. It is bound to enhance and strengthen traffic actions and reduce accidents. The strategy will have access to a big budget.”
The plan includes training Saudis to take up technical positions.
“The traffic engineering division will soon open its doors at Dammam University to produce technical graduates specializing in the implementation of this strategy,” he said.
Citing statistics, he said people involved in traffic accidents “occupy 30 percent of orthopedic beds in hospitals across the Kingdom. The strategy aims to reduce this percentage.”
Muhammad Ajlan Al-Shenberi, director of traffic in Madinah, said the strategy “will set out the broad outlines for the future plans of the traffic safety system, to significantly reduce traffic accidents, injuries involved and related social and economic effects.”
He said a good transport infrastructure would help reduce traffic accidents in the Kingdom.
New traffic plan to reduce accidents by 70%
New traffic plan to reduce accidents by 70%
