RIYADH — A single traffic policeman in the capital issues a daily average of 40 tickets for various violations including speeding, reckless overtaking, running red lights and others, business daily Al-Eqtisadiah reported. Wednesday following a tour of the city it had made in the company of an undercover traffic police officer. Abdullatif Al-Mihbash denied claims that traffic policemen are paid commission based on the number of the tickets they issue. “This not true at all. We are not paid any extra money for the ticket books we consume,” he said. The Tuesday tour started at noon and ended after 4 p.m. It included the major roads during peak hours and covered the city from the east to the west and from the north to the south. The tour proved that despite the strenuous efforts of the traffic police, big cities such as Riyadh lack a sufficient number of traffic patrols due to the large number of the cars using the streets. “We spend about seven hours every day in our work to supervise and follow up the flow of traffic on the major roads and also to direct policemen to congested areas,” Al-Mihbash said. He said they were usually harsh on young drivers and lenient with old men regardless of their violations. Al-Mihbash said many young Saudis, especially limousine drivers, have a tendency to tint their car windows, a major traffic violation. “The Saudi taxi drivers will tint their windows so that people will not be able to recognize them easily,” he said. Al-Mihbash said the traffic violations also include talking on the mobile phone or writing text messages while driving, not wearing safety belts and driving cars with no number plates. Meanwhile, assistant director of traffic police Lt. Col. Ali Al-Qahtani said there would be no solution to the traffic congestion in Riyadh except a metro system that would be launched in the next few years. “Other than the metro I see no solution to our traffic bottlenecks,” he said.
