It has been reported that the Shoura Council is discussing plans to introduce tolls on our roads. The idea is that the tolls — amounting to millions of riyals — could be spent on maintaining the roads. This is an important issue that merits discussion and comment. I would like to put forth my ideas.
First, I would say that discussing such an issue at this time is something to be viewed with much surprise. I say so because imposing fees for road use and putting yet another burden on already overburdened citizens is surely not right. No doubt some of our roads and highways are old. Many are not regularly maintained and so are in varying states of dilapidation. How then can we impose a toll on roads that only cause suffering and discomfort to the people who use them?
Another thing is the lack of services along our highways. With the exception of the modest services provided by gas stations whose main purpose is making money and so only provide certain services incidentally, there are no services on the roads. Just consider what happens when a traffic accident occurs on the open road. The injured must wait for hours for ambulances to reach them, by which time they may have died.
Though our country is the size of a continent, we still have very few world-class highways. How can a road toll be imposed on roads serving some areas while the rest of the country is exempt? The Ministry of Transport is doing its best to develop and maintain the roads; billions of riyals are spent every year. Still it seems that all these efforts are to little purpose.
Statistics show that thousands of people die on our roads every year, many of them young people at the very beginning of their lives. One reason for so many traffic accidents is the state of our roads combined with excessive speed.
In developed countries the toll system is intended to ensure the safety of motorists as well as that of the roads. If we can provide the necessary safety measures along our roads, then the toll would be welcome. At the same time, tickets given for traffic violations on our highways are more than double the amount to be generated from any suggested road toll.
