Speed could lead to permanent crippling

One person dies and four injured every hour as a result of road accidents across the Kingdom. This figure is one of the highest in the world. It is estimated that nearly one-third of hospital beds are occupied by those that sustained injuries in traffic accidents.
The issue has become a matter of serious concern among the officials and members of the society. This attains greater significance while taking into account of the fact that road accidents have become the second major cause of death in the Kingdom, and that most of the victims were in their prime youth.
Of course, there is a fall in the number of accident deaths and injuries after introduction of the Saher system. However, a section of the Saudi people are of the view that this electronic traffic monitoring system adds heavy financial burden on road users.
Speaking to Arab News, a number of experts and concerned officials commented on various aspects of the issue.
Prominent consultant orthopedic surgeon Dr. Marwan bin Muhammad Ali Zamzami, who is also executive director for health affairs at Prince Sultan City for Humanitarian Services, said that there were several studies carried out about traffic accidents in the Kingdom, and these included a study by the World Health Organization (WHO). According to the study, Saudi Arabia is among the countries with the highest number of road accident fatalities at the Arab and global level. In the Kingdom, an average 49 out of 1,000 people die in traffic accidents.
Another study, conducted by the public relations and media department at Jazan traffic department as part of the traffic directorate’s national road safety campaign titled “Salamati” (My Safety), showed that a total 6,142 people perished and 34,605 injured in a total of 484,805 traffic accidents across the Kingdom in a year.
“These figures indicate that road accidents are the second major reason for death, coming next to diabetes in the Kingdom. Traffic accident has become a major cause of concern and worry for all members of the Saudi families,” he said while drawing attention to another study, conducted in 2010, showing that there are over 6,000 fatalities in road accidents annually in the Kingdom.
Referring to the mental impact of accidents and the scope for giving treatment for this together with treatment for physical injuries, Dr. Zamzami said: “Of course, any person who sustained injuries in traffic accidents that might result either in his or her physical or mental disability would be in a bad mental state. Some sort of pessimism about their future would overpower them, especially when we take into account the fact that most of the injured people in accidents come under the age group of 25-40.
Dr. Zamzami said the Prince Sultan City for Humanitarian Services is giving priority to provide mental treatment that helps the injured person to get relieved and make him fit to undergo physiotherapy and rehabilitation. “There is a separate department for the treatment of mental diseases affecting victims of road accidents at the city. The department takes responsibility of the victim to ensure him sound mental health and thus enabling him to undergo physical therapy,” he said.
According to Dr. Zamzami, spinal cord trauma is regarded as the most serious injury caused by traffic accidents in the world as a whole. It may result from direct injury to the cord itself or indirectly from damage to surrounding bones, tissues, or blood vessels. Saudi Arabia comes first among the countries in the world in the number of spinal injury cases. There has been a huge increase in the number of such cases over the past decades.
Studies showed that nearly 35 to 45 percent of spinal injuries are caused by traffic accidents. “Spinal cord injury inflicts both physical strain and mental anguish to the victims, as it hampers their mobility and results in loss of sensation. They suffer from a lot of side effects that add further suffering to the lives of the victims and their family members as well,” he said.
Spinal injuries may lead to total or partial paralysis. When spinal cord injuries occur in the neck area, symptoms can affect the arms, legs, and middle of the body. The symptoms may occur on one or both sides of the body. Dr. Zamzami noted that the victims of accidents who lost their limbs or had an amputation are entitled to get compensation in accordance with the extent of injury. There are cases of severing body parts or organs as a result of traffic accidents, and these include severing below or above knee or forearm or hand. In such cases, the compensation also involves supplying with artificial limbs.
Dr. Zamzami attributed the increase in the number of deaths and injuries in road accidents to lack of using seat belt. “A large number of casualties happen when passengers are thrown out of their vehicles due to the impact of the crash. In such cases, wearing seat belt brings down the number of fatalities and injuries,” he said while drawing attention to a traffic department report that showed that nearly 88.45 percent of accident cases in the Kingdom are caused by over speed and negligence of traffic safety rules and regulations.
Commenting on the issue, Falah Al-Mazrouie, director general of preventive medicine at the Ministry of Health, said the huge number of road accidents was putting a heavy pressure on government hospitals and other Health Ministry facilities. “Whatever may be the reasons for road accidents, their bitter results increase burden on Ministry of Health hospitals and other facilities. Through mobilizing all our staff members and resources, we are struggling to save the lives of accident victims and relieving their suffering through emergency services, treatment, surgery, and other services,” he said.
Al-Mazrouie also drew attention to an earlier official statistical report, which showed that nearly 40 percent of traffic accident victims were young men and women who are supposed to be the most productive segment of the society. “This incurs huge losses to our human resources in addition to producing negative impact on the society,” he said.
According to Al-Mazrouie, launching of the automatic traffic monitoring system of Saher has been instrumental in bringing down fatalities and injuries substantially. “The number of accidents in a month dropped 14 percent to 10,000 from 14,000, and the average number of injuries fell 55.8 percent to 110 from 249. There has also been a decrease of 45.9 percent in the number of fatalities reaching 20 from 37,” he said.
Al-Mazrouie said this drop in fatalities and injuries produced a positive impact on the functioning of the Ministry of Health, which can now reduce spending on treatment of accident cases and allocate money for implementing other health programs.
Maj. Gen. Abdulrahman Al-Muqbel, director of traffic department in the Riyadh region, said the percentage of traffic accident fatalities in Riyadh dropped by 31.4 percent within one year after introduction of Saher system. “There has also been a decrease of 15.8 percent in accident injury cases after launching Saher comparing with the year before its introduction,” he said while quoting statistical reports from the traffic department, Saudi Red Crescent Authority and other agencies.
Spelling out the advantages of introducing Saher, Al-Muqbel noted there had been an average fall of 33 in the percentage of speeding vehicles, while the percentage of vehicles violating traffic rules and regulations dropped to 3.2 from 32.2 percent. “Saher system was also instrumental in improving the carefulness while driving and reducing the average speed of vehicles in the capital city. It has also played a great role in updating details of vehicles, in addition to seizing vehicles owned by individuals who failed to update their data with the traffic department,” he said.
Referring to other advantages of Saher, Al-Muqbel said it contributed substantially in mitigating pressure on health organizations and saving millions of riyals that otherwise would have been allocated for the treatment of those injured in accidents. It also helped to enhance traffic awareness among road users and prompted them to respect the rights of others, he said, adding that there were at least 232 Saudis working with the Saher system in the Riyadh region and this sector achieved 92 percent Saudization.