RIYADH — The spokesman of the traffic department said 60 percent of deaths form traffic accidents occur on suburban roads, while 40 percent occur on city streets, Al-Eqtisadiah daily reported. Brig. Ali Al-Rasheedi said 24.6 percent of accidents are the result of speeding and 21.4 percent are caused by drivers running red lights, while 72 percent of deaths in traffic accidents are of young drivers. He pointed out that the implementation of the Saher traffic monitoring system has resulted in a 30 to 70 percent decrease in traffic accidents. The newspaper had previously published statistics of traffic accidents, showing that deaths in traffic accidents have increased by 24 percent in 2012 compared to 2009. Makkah Province accounted for 25 percent of total traffic accident deaths during 2012. The province also led in the number of traffic accident injuries, which accounted for 27 percent. The Riyadh province was first in the number of traffic accidents, accounting for 28 percent of total accidents in the Kingdom. Statistics also showed that the number of traffic accidents increased by 22 percent in 2012 compared to three years ago, with 1,614 accidents a day or 67 an hour. In 2009, before the implementation of Saher, there were 1,328 accidents a day or 55 accidents an hour. In 2012, there were a total of 7,600 deaths from traffic accidents.
