RIYADH, 25 November — Saudi Arabia has come third place at an international festival on road safety films that recently concluded in Tunis. The Ministry of Interior represented the Kingdom at the festival.
The Kingdom has intensified its campaign over the past year to reduce the number of traffic accidents here. It has one of the highest accident rates in the world, and has produced several films and documentaries to increase the awareness of traffic safety issues among the public.
A number of films at the festival documented measures undertaken by the government to ensure road safety, especially in light of the fact that the number of deaths and injuries due to road accidents in the Kingdom exceeded 84,936 last year alone.
A recent study says there is an average of 1.7 cars per family in Saudi Arabia. Of drivers involved in road accidents, 16 percent do not possess driving licenses. Only 21 percent of motorists in the Kingdom hold valid insurance.
The Traffic Department is currently installing surveillance cameras at major intersections of busy roads and on certain highways to trace traffic violators. Traffic officials have been trained to operate the high-tech cameras, which can read the plate number and record the speed of the vehicles.
A control room has been set up at the Riyadh-based traffic headquarters in Naseriya district to operate the cameras and traffic lights in this city.
These sensitive cameras can also record a driver’s fault, if he speeds away the car from the parking area without switching on the car’s headlights.
In another initiative, the traffic department has made the wearing of seat belts mandatory for the drivers recently. This will eventually reduce the number of accidents taking place on the roads.
General Motors also launched an advertising campaign recently to educate motorists. In a rare initiative, the GM launched the SR4.5 million campaign by inserting advertisements in the Pan Arab and Saudi media, which carried hard-hitting images and messages to jolt drivers into taking more care. It also distributed thousands of safety leaflets.
