JEDDAH, 2 February 2007 — The number of fatalities and injuries due to traffic accidents in Jeddah went down nine percent in the month of Dul Hijjah (December-January), compared to the same period a year ago, the traffic department said in a report.
According to statistics provided by the department, there were only 5044 accidents in the city last Dul Hijjah, compared to 5,332 accidents in Dul Hijjah 1426 AH. The report added that the number of people injured in car accidents went down from 374 to 344 and the number of deaths went down from 64 to 52.
The study showed that Saturdays recorded the highest number of accidents with 826 cases. This figure was closely followed by Monday with 816 accidents. There were 9,882 cars involved in car crashes in 1426 AH compared with 9,609 in 1427 AH.
Mohammed Al-Qahtani, head of the traffic department in Jeddah, said the results of the study show that the number has gone down compared to the same month a year ago. He added that the traffic campaign that was recently launched had contributed tremendously in decreasing the number of accidents and more importantly the number of lives lost.
Al-Qahtani called on residents to be responsible and not put their safety and the safety of others at risk by driving recklessly.
