JEDDAH, 2 July 2007 — Speed cameras are to be set up across the Kingdom as part of a SR2 billion project to nab traffic violators, said Maj. Gen. Fahd Al-Bishr, director general of the Traffic Department.
Al-Bishr said contracts will be signed with three companies this week and that the companies would import technology from the United States, Europe and Malaysia. The technology will be installed to monitor traffic and register traffic violations and cases of speeding.
“The new traffic monitoring system will come into effect early next year,” Al-Bishr told Al-Jazirah newspaper.
He said a six-month-long awareness campaign would be carried out before introducing the system, which aims at cutting down road accidents that destroy five percent of the country’s gross domestic product annually.
Al-Bishr said cameras would be installed to record license plate numbers of violating vehicles, which would then be passed on to the data center. He added that drivers would be informed of violations and would have the right to object.
Payment of traffic tickets are essential to complete procedures at the Passport Department like issuance and renewal of passport, iqama (resident permit), civil status card, vehicle permit and driving license, issuance of visas for non-Saudis and recruitment of foreign manpower.
“The new project will help identify and locate cars wanted by police, including stolen cars and cars driven by suspected criminals,” Bishr said.
Traffic violations in the Kingdom have increased considerably in recent years rising by 349 percent in 2004 compared to the figure in 1996. Every minute at least 11 traffic violations take place on the Kingdom’s roads. People injured in traffic accidents occupy about one-third of hospital beds.
Bishr attributed the huge number of traffic accidents in the Kingdom to a growing population. “We have to work out a strategy to reduce traffic violations and accidents,” he said.
During the last five years, traffic departments have registered more than 1.36 million accidents that caused the deaths of 21,900 people and injured 122,600 others. In 2004 alone, 5,168 people died and 348,100 others were injured in 293,200 accidents across the country.
