Car accidents cost KSA SR13bn

More than 300,000 traffic accidents occur every year in the Kingdom.
Traffic accidents account for more than 30 percent of bed occupancy in hospitals, said Abdullah M. Rubaish, rector of the University of Dammam and chairman of the supreme committee of the second Traffic Safety Forum.
“The Kingdom bears losses of more than SR13 billion as a result of traffic accidents,” said Rubaish.
The matter urgently calls for the establishment of a scientific organization to care for traffic safety issues.
He said that direct cooperation with the Traffic Safety Department at Saudi Aramco to launch awareness campaigns and activities resulted in the establishment of the Saudi Traffic Safety Society (Salamah).
The forum will be held Nov. 4-6 at the Sheraton Hotel in Dammam, where 43 key speakers from inside the Kingdom and abroad will deliver speeches, lectures and evening sessions about traffic safety issues related to national partnership.
National partnership focuses on reducing the rate of traffic accidents by exerting efforts within a national and strategic traffic safety policy. More than 50 invitations were sent to traffic safety bodies to participate in the forum.
“We expect more than 500 persons to attend the event from the Ministries of Interior, Transport, Health, the Saudi Red Crescent, Dammam University, Saudi Aramco, King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology and the General Directorate for Traffic,” said Rubaish.