RIYADH, 13 April 2003 — The Directorate General of the Traffic Department has begun operating special unmarked traffic police patrols in the Kingdom’s main cities.
“Initially, we will cover the capital, Jeddah and the Eastern Province. And later, we will expand to the rest of the Kingdom, depending on the viability of our experience,” said Brig. Gen. Fahd ibn Saud Al-Bishr, director general of the department.
Uniformed traffic police with badges carrying their names will patrol the streets in unmarked cars. They have been authorized to stop drivers who commit traffic offenses. Fines can be imposed and collected on the spot and offenses include running a red light and speeding.
Brig. Gen. Al-Bishr explained that this arrangement had existed for some time but without the authority to impose fines. He added that he hoped the new patrols would help to cut the number of traffic violations, many of which cause accidents.
He also said that along with the National Information Center at the Ministry of Interior, the department was in the process of creating a special record for each traffic violation which results in an accident.
Insurance companies will have access to the records to evaluate motorists’ claims and to take appropriate measures such as lowering or raising premiums or refusing to provide insurance service.
The new measures are expected to reduce the number of both traffic violations and accidents. Statistics indicate that there were over 305,000 traffic accidents in 2002 — a nine percent increase over 2001. The accidents caused 3,913 deaths and 28,379 injuries.
