In a recent article in Saudi Gazette, Fahd Al-Deghaither painfully analyzed the reasons why traffic in Saudi Arabia has become a cancer and then put forward suggestions to deal with the increase in the number of traffic violations on the Kingdom's roads. Saudi Arabia is spending billions of riyals on the construction of roads, bridges, underpasses, pedestrian footbridges and signboards and trillions of riyals on the treatment of those injured in traffic accidents, not to mention the compensation paid by insurance companies. I work in an establishment which supplies medical equipment and during my interaction with those who have been injured in traffic accidents, I have found that most of them accept that they violated traffic rules and many of them pledge never to repeat the same mistake once they have fully recovered. For many of them, the mistake of a moment has brought a lifetime of suffering.
The traffic department should collect data on traffic accidents, analyze it and publish the results in local newspapers. How many violators have been punished, how many tickets issued, how many cars have run red lights, how many people drive without using their seat belts, how many speed, how many use mobiles phones while driving, how many drive with expired car registration and how many drive without a driver's license?
This will provide clear information about what the traffic department must do to not only reduce traffic accidents but also to educate future drivers by visits to schools, colleges and universities to show documentaries of damaged cars and interviews with those who have been injured in traffic accidents.
Signboards depicting traffic accidents must be erected at main traffic intersections, petrol pumps, shopping malls and mosques. It should be mandatory to put warnings of traffic violations on cans of motor oil and other lubricants just as smokers are cautioned about the dangers of smoking by warnings on cigarette packets.
The traffic department must installed HD 360 cameras on top of police vehicles to record traffic violations on the roads. Everyone knows where Saher cameras are installed, and drivers lower their speed when they pass them and then continue speeding.
You don't get a second chance in life, so the concerned authorities must work together to protect the young generation from untimely death and physical disabilities, and they must do so now, before more lives are lost.
