It has also earned its fair share of criticism by speeding drivers as they battle their differences with the new traffic control system. “It is already such a hassle driving on the roads here with people driving like maniacs, and now you cannot even speed because Saher will debit you within a flash,” said Mohannad Fayaz, a 25-year-old Saudi from Jeddah.
A pervasive trend among many drivers who have incorporated programs on their smartphones are applications that alert and act as radars that warn drivers about Saher.
Hamdan Al-Faisal, 28, father of two, fears the dangerous driving in Jeddah and feels it is unsafe for children to ride without seatbelts. He thinks more people should be informed, so they do not complain about hidden cameras. “Personally, I consider it a great thing, because I want people to drive safely and rationally. Traffic and driving here is mentally traumatic. I have seen accidents, and people should learn to be patient.”
Many Saudis use Trapster, one of the applications to avoid Saher. Trapster alerts drivers in case of a camera ahead, and lets users know how many Trapster users have been flashed by a camera for speeding or jumping red lights at certain intersections. The GPS application avails data from the Internet and can access other users to alert them of the location of traffic cameras.
“I use it, and it helps me warn motorists in front of me. We usually flash our headlamps to one another to save us from Saher fines. I do not understand how they want us to keep our calm with rash driving conditions and untrained drivers,” says Imran Nasser, 26. Many users swap applications, which cost between SR100 and SR250 to download. Although it can be a nuisance to drive and operate it on your phone at the same time, says Nasser: “We do whatever it takes to avoid the colossal fines. Do not try to control us, we do not like that.”
Jassim Badr, 28, who is tired of driving for hours in Jeddah traffic every day says: “Saher has come as if we needed more stress while driving on the roads here. Saher has just added more pressure on me and my pocket. You know the shabab (young people) thrive on road rage, so speed is inevitable. It is a good system to slow them down, but these hidden cameras can catch you unawares and my fines are killing me right now.”
Al-Qahtani, however, says Saher is supportive to road users who adhere to traffic laws and is not limited to keeping track of traffic violations, as many people believe. Its foremost objective, he says, is to regulate and administer traffic movement as well as to locate the vehicles that are being tracked down for a range of offenses.
“It catches only individuals who violate regulations and commit offenses on roads. This has helped bring down the figure of traffic incidents by 70 percent in Jeddah,” he explains.
According to a recent World Health Organization report, up to 1.3 million people died last year in road accidents — one third of them below 25.
Al-Qahtani specifies there has recently been an increase in the number of cameras at “black spots” — where accidents occur frequently.
Road accidents result in 18 deaths per day in the Kingdom. Value of material loss due to accidents is estimated at SR13 billion a year. Alarmingly, there is one death every 90 minutes and an injury or disability every 15 minutes.
