JEDDAH, 4 August 2004 — A 16-year-old boy escaped injury on Monday when he lost control of his family’s station wagon, crashing into an electric pole and tree in the Rawdah district.
The boy, Ahmad Mahdali, was driving down a Rawdah district side street at a high speed when he lost control of his car. The car jumped the center divide, struck and knocked off a lamppost, then struck and came to rest against a tree, barely missing oncoming traffic.
Ahmad was wearing his seatbelt, which, together with the airbag that deployed, allowed him to escape with no injuries. After the collision, the car was on the center divide resting against a tree, and the lamppost was in the road still connected to the electrical source.
Ahmad was crouched on the ground sobbing as dozens of onlookers gathered around. When asked why he was crying, he said: “My father’s going to kill me.” It was Ahmad’s first accident.
Asked if he had his father’s permission to drive the car, Ahmad said that he had a license and his father’s permission. He explained that he was crying because he thought his father would be upset about the car.
However, when Ahmad’s father, Adnan Mahdali, arrived at the scene of the accident, he ran to his son and tearfully hugged him, thanking Allah that his son escaped injury. Several onlookers had tears in their eyes as they watched father and son cry and hold each other.
Adnan told Arab News at the scene: “I thank Allah that my son is not injured. The car is replaceable. Although my son was scared of me, and the police, he did the responsible thing by staying at the scene of the accident and accepting responsibility. That is what all young drivers should do. When I saw my son, I ran to him to see if he was all right. I didn’t care about the car, just my son. The first thing I told him when I saw him was, ‘Don’t worry, thank Allah you are unharmed’.”
Both father and son left for the police station shortly after the accident to find out how much it would cost to replace the lamppost.
“The bill will be in the tens of thousands if they have no insurance,” a policeman told Arab News.
