Riyadh traffic crackdown tags 1,500 violations in a night

RIYADH: The General Directorate of Traffic in Riyadh region said that there were 1,500 violations committed on Sunday night and 362 drivers were arrested for various offenses.
The traffic violations included speeding, reckless driving— such as overtaking from the right side— driving without a license, ignoring traffic signals, illegible plate numbers, no proof of identity, among others.
“The crackdown on traffic violators started at 10 o’clock at night and lasted until well past midnight,” said Director General of the Directorate of Traffic Major General Abdullah Al-Zahrani.
He said the move was a follow-up to a directive from higher traffic authorities due to the increasing incidents of road accidents.
A report quoted the General Directorate of Traffic as saying that there were 23 deaths per 100,000 people some time back, with an average of 19.1 fatalities occurring daily in the Kingdom.
“Of the total number of arrests on Sunday night, 82 and 362 were driving trucks and small cars, respectively,” Al-Zahrani said.
Earlier, Riyadh police arrested 46 during a raid and detained youths engaging in drifting (tafheet).
Al-Zahrani added that the arrests were made as part of a campaign to streamline traffic flow and minimize, if not altogether prevent, traffic violations.
“Traffic violations nowadays are rampant. It appears that there’s an utter lack of road courtesy among drivers as well as regard for precious human life,” Al-Zahrani said.
He said that the grisly sight of human blood in a car crash, totally wrecked cars and lifeless bodies due to an accident seem to be not enough to deter reckless driving.
Explaining why road accidents happen, an official of an organization on traffic safety said, “It’s really a matter of lack of discipline and lack of enforcement of speed limits. More strict enforcement of traffic laws would help.”