Director of the Traffic Department in Jeddah Brig. Gen. Muhammad Al-Qahtani told Al-Madinah Arabic daily that the state-of-the-art electronic traffic management system has been a resounding success in cutting down all types of traffic violations.
“The system has proven effective in all sense of the word since its introduction eight months ago. The role of Saher is not restricted only to monitoring traffic violations as many people believe. However, its major objective is to regulate and manage traffic movement as well as to locate those vehicles that are being tracked down by security officials for various offenses,” he said.
Al-Qahtani said that there has been an increase in the number of cameras installed at locations identified as “black spots” because of the frequent occurrence of accidents there. Referring to isolated cases of attacks against traffic officials and vandalizing Saher cameras, the official said that traffic authorities have been taking punitive action against such offenders.
For example, a young man was caught red-handed last Thursday when he threw a glass bottle at the Saher camera but no damage was caused. “We deal with the perpetrators of such crimes as per the royal decree for those who damage public properties issued in 1405 AH (1984). Under this decree, those who damage any government property or take part in the crime would be awarded with stringent punitive action including two years of imprisonment or fines of up to SR100,000, or both,” he said.
According to Al-Qahtani, the Saher system was aimed at serving public interests. “The system would always be supportive to road users who adhere to traffic regulations. On the other hand, it would catch only those who violate regulations and commit offenses on roads. This helped bring down the number of traffic accidents by 70 percent on all roads and streets in Jeddah,” he said, while noting that King Abdul Aziz Road was one of the major streets that witnessed a huge number of fatalities in Jeddah.
“The number of fatalities on the road has been cut down to three since Saher cameras were installed there, against 16 fatalities during the same period before the introduction of the electronic system,” he said, while vowing to bring down this number down to zero in the future.
Al-Qahtani said the system is being expanded throughout the region in a phased manner. “More cameras have been installed with each passing day. The focus is to install cameras on roads identified as ‘black spots.’”
According to Al-Qahtani, about 300 to 350 traffic accidents take place in Jeddah daily. “This number increases during the vacation period. For instance, during the recent one-week spring vacation, the number of daily accidents rose to 400,” he said.
Al-Qahtani warned all those, especially youths, who try to dodge the Saher system that they would face stringent punitive measures, such as fines and confiscation of vehicles. “We have so far seized more than 30 devices, including radar detectors designed to evade the new monitoring system,” he said.
The traffic official said that speeding is the main traffic violation in the city. “We have installed signboards on every major road and street clearly highlighting the maximum speed limit, and this was in line with international specifications and standards with regard to the size of the boards as well as the type of inscriptions and colors,” he said.
