JEDDAH, 18 October 2005 — One motorist was slightly injured and four vehicles damaged when a speeding driver smashed into a sport-utility vehicle which in turn toppled a light pole causing a traffic-stopping accident Sunday on Tahlia Street.
Witnesses at the scene said a young driver in a sedan was traveling westbound in the service lane at a high speed, weaving in and out of traffic when the accident occurred.
He struck the SUV, pushing it onto the curb and into a light pole and other street signs. As the lighting pole fell across Tahlia Street’s main westbound lanes, it was struck by a late-model luxury car, which, in turn, was also rear-ended by another sedan.
“I was driving — minding my own business in the service lane, when this car came flying by my right side and struck me. My Jeep went sideways into the pole and almost ended up on the main road. I was lucky I wasn’t hurt seriously,” Mohammed Al-Shorbaji told Arab News.
Al-Shorbaji was treated at the scene by paramedics, for a minor injury to his face.
While police were taking statements from witnesses, a fistfight erupted between two of the parties involved in the collision requiring police intervention. No arrests were made resulting from the fight, but the reckless young driver was taken into custody.
“This is what happens when people are fasting and tempers are running short in the hour before iftar,” said Misfir Al-Sharif, a traffic policeman at the scene.
