In a fiery crash near Dakhna on Hejaz Road, Qassim, a jeep carrying a maid and a 7-member Saudi family — a military officer, his wife and five children — collided head on with a car with two youngsters in it, killing all 10 on the spot.

Such was the impact of the collision that bodies of nine people were charred beyond recognition, and the vehicles turned into a mangled pileup of steel.

“The accident took place because of lack of sign boards on the road to guide drivers. Those who leave Dakhna would be under the impression that it’s a two-lane road but when it reaches Nafa, it becomes one-lane and this technical problem has caused several accidents,” sabq.org, quoting a traffic department source, said.

Al-Rass Traffic Police had informed the Transport Department in Qassim about the problem. It had instructed the department to put signboards to warn drivers that the two-lane road would turn into one-lane.

A meeting was held at Al-Rass Traffic Department to discuss the issue two weeks ago, and the contractor was asked to put signboards on the road. The company started its work on Wednesday. Twenty lives have been lost in recent accidents on the same road. They include a Saudi family and an Egyptian, who was going to receive his bride at the airport, died in similar manner.

In three other accidents reported Thursday on Riyadh-Taif Road, two people died and 11 others were injured, including two Kuwaitis. The accident occurred following heavy traffic on the road as a result of the mid-year vacation.

Statistics show that the Kingdom has 23 deaths per 100,000 people, with on average 19.1 road fatalities a day.

“It is really a matter of lack of discipline, and undoubtedly, better enforcement of speed limits and traffic laws would help,” said Glenn N. Havinoviski, associate veep and transportation systems director of Middle East Operations, Iteris Inc.