Believe it nor not, the Riyadh Traffic Department recently registered 12,000 violations in a span of 24 hours.

The mind-boggling number of violations has sent alarm bells ringing in the department.

Traffic cops have blamed the high rise in accidents on people who drive cars while talking on cell phones.

A report in July said that 1.4 million traffic violations, including speeding and ignoring traffic signals, were registered in the first half of this year, while 2.6 million traffic offenses were registered last year.

The Riyadh traffic police have started monitoring and penalizing motorists who are stuck to their phones while driving.

The campaign against phone users at the steering wheel is one of the measures being implemented by the traffic department.

Col. Ali Abdullah Al-Dubaikhi, Riyadh traffic director, said the campaign is in its second week. “We are strictly implementing traffic safety regulations and also trying to raise awareness among citizens and expatriates alike,” he said.

He said that 73 checkpoints have been set up on various roads and intersections in the capital. These are in addition to the more than 90 traffic patrols deployed at major intersections.