The picture with the caption “Four die, three others from same family hurt in highway accident” (Dec. 27) is shocking. American singer John Mayer once said: “I look away at car crashes, and I know people who look away at car crashes, because it makes us uncomfortable to watch other people in pain.”

The majority of road accidents are caused by human error. Research has shown that driver error accounts for over 80 percent of all accidents, with most of them due to speeding or recklessness. The rate of fatalities due to road accidents in the Kingdom is reportedly the highest in the world.

Although we have very useful safety traffic regulations, how many of the motorists are observing them? All that fear we inherit from seeing such nasty accidents vanishes from our hearts and minds in just a few days and motorists are back to the same old habits. On my 23 km drive to the place of work, I never fail to see at least one accident both ways every day, some of which are serious. Definitely, all of these accidents are avoidable. May sanity prevail, at least while at the wheel.