RIYADH: Media and members of the public can help curtail road accidents in the Kingdom by cooperating with the traffic department, Public Security Director Lt. Gen. Othman bin Nasser Al-Mihrij has said.

“Eyewitnesses should take a video of an erring vehicle showing its registration number (number plates) and send it to the traffic department for necessary action,” he said, adding that sometimes incidents of car drifting go unreported.

Al-Mihrij was speaking to reporters, following a meeting with the directors of the traffic departments in Riyadh on Thursday. The meeting was held under the guidance of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Naif, deputy premier and minister of interior, to evaluate the performance of the traffic department.

Traffic officials have successfully tracked down several vehicles involved in offenses with the help of such videoclips.

He said the media can contribute a lot in the traffic awareness campaigns in the Kingdom highlighting the hazards of road accidents and how they can be prevented.

The official said expatriates working as drivers in houses or companies should be taught the local road ethics in their respective languages. “They should not only be taught the rules, but also informed about the punishment for violations as a preventive measure.”

Al-Mihrij called on parents to tell their children to respect the traffic laws of the country as violations could result in fatalities. He urged the parents that pulling up children for their faults is part of upbringing.


He said that among the topics that were taken up for review in the meeting were how to raise the level of performance of the traffic department, immediate action on road accidents and to maintain road safety with the cooperation of local authorities and other bodies concerned.

The Kingdom loses SR50 billion annually due to damage caused to private and public property and injuries to people as a result of road accidents, according to Najah Al-Garawi, dean of community partnerships and associate professor of geography at the Dammam University.

According to Sultan Al-Zahrani, secretary general of the Traffic Safety Committee in the western province, at least one traffic accident occurs in the Kingdom every minute. There are up to 7,000 deaths (around 20 deaths daily) and more than 39,000 injuries due to road accidents every year in the Kingdom.