I fully agree with Maj. Gen. Abdul Hadi Al-Shahrani, Madinah district police chief, that motorists can play a key role in curbing accidents. It is all about following traffic rules. Most of the road accidents occur due to reckless driving. We don’t follow speed limits while driving within cities. The speed with which most, if not all, motorists drive their vehicles in cities is sometimes usually slightly below the limit that is allowed on highways. It is due to this reason, we routinely witness freak road accidents in the Kingdom.

In addition to that most of us use mobile phones while driving. I have personally seen people texting or drinking tea while driving on busy thoroughfares.

We cannot blame the traffic authorities for the problems that we face as motorists because we don’t respect the law.

Another problem is motorists changing lanes or making a turn without indication or if they do indicate it is usually too late for those trailing behind to act. We should realize that following traffic rules is in our interest as well.