As this paper reported yesterday, parents — particularly mothers — approach the coming school vacation with considerable trepidation. The fear is that their children will be involved in car accidents. They have reason to be afraid. Saudi Arabia’s road accident and death rate is one of the world’s worst. With 21 fatalities per 100,000 of population, only Oman, South Africa, Swaziland and Botswana have a higher rate. And the summer is particularly bad. Not for nothing do people talk about a ‘”summer slaughter season.”
It does not have to be like this. Cross the causeway to Bahrain or go to Dubai or Abu Dhabi: Speed limits and other rules are obeyed, cars stop at traffic lights, drivers are courteous. So why not here? Why this mania for speed, even in built-up areas? Why this total disrespect for other road users? It is no good blaming the drivers, but doing nothing about it. That is the problem. The authorities do not take their duties sufficiently seriously. Things could be done to prevent this needless slaughter — but they are not being done. There has to be zero tolerance of bad driving. For a start, the police need to stop worrying who offenders are. Rich kids have to know that they are not above the law. Justice has to be seen to be carried out, regardless of whether it is the son of a wealthy businessman or an expatriate worker.
It is not so much that penalties need to be harsher as that rules have to be enforced. It is done haphazardly. It is far from unknown to see a minor accident or drivers speeding or jumping the lights and the police looking on and doing nothing.
Fines need to hurt. There needs to be at least a SR2,000 fine on those criminally irresponsible fathers who drive with children between themselves and the wheel. There has to be more licenses revoked and vehicles confiscated, certainly for repeat offenses; expatriate repeat offenders should be kicked out the country. And there has to be a greater willingness to use jail sentences for crimes like road rage. Leaving the scene of an accident before the police arrive should be a criminal offense.
We currently have the tragic example of a young man facing execution for the death of three passengers and injury of two bystanders in a stunt-driving accident. In this case the law has been pursued and hopefully it will send a message that such behavior will not be tolerated. But would this tragedy have occurred if that message had gone out earlier, if the driving climate had been different?
The laid-back attitude toward road offenses by the authorities has to change. It is irresponsible. It can change. Go to the Saudi Aramco compound in Dhahran and the driving is sane. That is because rules there are enforced. That is all it takes.
Rightly, the greatest Saudi effort is put into fighting terrorism. But bad driving claims thousands more lives. The authorities pride themselves on the fact that Saudi streets are safe. But not Saudi roads. It is high time the authorities dealt with that.
