The work on constructing flyovers and underpasses to ease traffic in Jeddah is proceeding smoothly. All over the city almost all the big roads have been turned into highways with the speed limit from 80 to 90 kilometers per hour.

According to the General Directorate of Traffic data there are 23 deaths per 100,000 people, with an average of 19.1 road fatalities in the Kingdom daily.

There are approximately 7,100 road fatalities every year and 38,000 seriously injured individuals, of whom 7 percent are permanently disabled. Experts predict that if the current rate of traffic accidents continues, the Kingdom may have four million traffic accidents a year by 2030. This means that a person will die on Saudi roads every hour in 2014 if the country’s accident rate continues at its current pace.

The lack of pedestrian bridges, crowded streets with over speeding cars create danger for pedestrians.

“The motorists hardly show any discipline or concern when they are driving, many times it seems that some of them don’t know the rules of proper driving, which one can see in other countries. The municipality or traffic department should do something about this,” said Mohammed Hafiz, a motorist.

Abdullah Alwi, who lives near the Al-Raya Supermarket on Tadamun Al-Arabi Street, told Arab News that before it was very easy to cross the road as traffic light was there in front of the supermarket, but now it has became very dangerous, because of the flyover and tunnel at Sabaeen and Palestine intersection.

He added that now people put their lives in danger when they need to cross the road from both sides as on one side there is a supermarket and on the other side there are food shops, restaurants and stationery shops.

“There is need of a pedestrian bridge over here to reduce danger for pedestrians who need to cross the road,” he said.

Abdul Haleem said that it is the responsibility of the municipality when they are constructing bridges and tunnels to build pedestrian bridges or a way to cross the road.

The roads where the shops or food stores are on both the sides need pedestrian bridges, especially on Sabaeen Street in front of Al-Raya Supermarket near Palestine street, Madinah Road in front of Mobile Market and Tahlia Street in between Sabaeen and Makarona where the new underpass has turned it into a highway.