RIYADH, 20 November 2006 — Fatalities related to motorbike accidents reached a record high in the Kingdom with 969 deaths last year, according to Maj. Gen. Fahd Al-Bishr, head of the Traffic Department.
A lack of rules and regulations for motorbikes, including the use of safety helmets and traffic fines, compounds the problem, Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper quoted Al-Bishr as saying.
He said the World Health Organization is planning to intensify its effort during the next two years to promotes the use of safety helmets for bikers as a method to minimize casualties and deaths that occur from motorbike accidents.
Capt. Omar Al-Suwailim of the General Directorate of Traffic said there exists on the books a SR100 fine for bikers who do not wear safety helmets. “The problem is that the law does not promote enough safety campaigns for motorbike riding,” he said.
Al-Suwailim said that the lack of awareness can be seen among drivers who don’t even abide by the safety dress, which is supposed to be made of strong leather that protects bodies from injuries related to falling and skidding on pavement. Many people around the Kingdom ride their motorcycles wearing casual clothes and sometimes even in the national dress.
Dr. Abdul Ilah Saeed, a sociologist, said that the issue is not given enough attention because it was not considered to be a major problem here. Statistics show that motorbike-related accidents kill around 1.5 million people around the world each year.
He said that most of the deaths occur because of head injuries. Safety helmets give a 70 percent chance of survival during accidents. A campaign to promote helmets in the Kingdom is necessary considering the growing number of motorbike riders especially in the Eastern and Western provinces where it became a primary means of transport to many people, he said.
Saeed said that many countries have succeeded in spreading the awareness about the importance of wearing the safety helmet by imposing strict traffic regulations.
According to the American Medical Union, the usage of safety helmets helped in decreasing death cases by 30 percent and reduced brain damage by 67 percent in the United States.
Amer Al-Khaldi, a Harley Davidson owner, said that there is a need to spread safety awareness among bikers. He said that also the price of helmets that range from SR750 to SR1,200 causes an obstacle to bikers, most of whom are from middle- or low-income families.
He said that the danger in driving a motorbike lies in its small size and lightweight, which makes it hard to control in case of an emergency. Another problem is that sometimes a motorbike is hard to spot by car drivers. “It is important to understand the need for safety measures even if they are costly, because nothing is too much when it involves human life,” he said.
Saudi Arabia has one of the world’s highest rates of traffic accidents, according to the Transport Ministry. Road deaths have exceeded 35,000 over the past decade, with more than 200,000 people injured.
