ANYONE who has been in a car in the Saudi capital would be hard pressed to find a driver who abides by the Kingdom's road safety laws. The list of violations is endless: cell phone usage while driving, running red lights, driving in the opposite direction, illegal overtaking and even parking in places marked for the disabled. Al-Riyadh daily reports on how a lack of enforcement on behalf of traffic police has led to chaos and death in a city that has some of the best-designed and well-maintained roads in the Arab world. Fahad Al-Harbi, a schoolteacher, said traffic police must do more to enforce traffic laws and punish drivers who flout the rules. "Sometimes I feel like I'm in a car race. Drivers will cut you off or tailgate you just to get you out of the way. Some drivers run red lights as if it is no big deal," he said while adding he has got used to seeing traffic accidents while driving to and from work. "Traffic police officers can stop all these violations but they are nowhere to be found on main streets and the most crowded areas. This is why reckless drivers do not hesitate to do what they want on streets. The only solution to this problem is to intensify the presence of traffic police officers and impose heavy fines on violators," he added. Modern technology College student Khalid Al-Shahrani agreed that the presence of traffic police officers is lacking but said they can use modern technology such as surveillance cameras to manage traffic and punish offending drivers. "I've seen ordinary people take up the role of traffic cops to manage the flow of traffic, especially near colleges. Why don't the traffic police use technology to control the chaos in the streets? They don't have to be physically present and can manage many things remotely," he said. Al-Shahrani believes that heavy fines will do little to discourage drivers from breaking the law. Instead, he argued, police should impound vehicles and detain drivers. "A fine is something people can just pay but no one likes spending even a few hours in jail. If they started impounding violators' cars and jailing drivers, people would think twice before breaking the law," he added. Badur Obaid said society, and not just the traffic police, is to blame for the capital's woes. "We should not only blame the traffic police. Schools, mosques as well as other concerned authorities are not running any type of awareness campaigns and nobody is blaming them. Many of the negative practices that we see on the streets have nothing to do with the fact that the driver disrespects traffic rules or is not aware of them. These practices reflect poor level of religiosity and education," he stressed.
