RIYADH, 10 May — The current system of putting traffic violators under temporary detention will be abandoned, according to a senior traffic official in the capital city.
“Placing traffic violators in temporary detention is to be stopped in keeping with the instructions of higher authorities,” Lt. Col. Saud Al-Sabeie, director of Riyadh’s security patrols, said in a statement to Arab News.
The violators will be issued with tickets showing the fine they are liable to pay — except where the offense is deliberately running a red light.
The payment of traffic fines will be linked to other civil services such as the addition of new names in a family register, issue of passport or labor import permit and renewal of the iqama (residence permit), Al-Subayie said.
The patrol division also plans to work in concert with the traffic directorate when issuing car repair permits following accidents. The directorate should issue repair permits only after checking with other security agencies if the car owner or the car was involved in any criminal act, the official said.
The traffic directorate, which will obtain all information about the applicant for the repair permit, will make sure that there is no pending criminal charge against him.
The official also said the patrols division have deployed 30 secret traffic police teams with 60 men at various locations in the capital to observe traffic and criminal violations.
Several surprise inspections on roads in Riyadh in the last week of April registered 932 cases of speeding, 201 illegal darkening of window glasses, 1,253 seat-belt violations, 2,333 other violations, said the official.
The inspections also discovered six cars stolen or wanted for other violations, the official said.
