The Kingdom's Traffic Police has said that it will be holding its exhibition accompanying the 26th Gulf Traffic Week, which begins Sunday, at its pavilion on Sitteen Street in the Al-Malaz district of the capital. Traffic officials said that visiting delegations from the Gulf would be arriving from the first day of the week, and that various government bodies had been invited to attend the opening ceremony. Students have also been invited to the exhibition. The officials added that the program for the week, which has as its 2010 slogan “Beware Other People's Errors”, included lectures at schools, universities and government departments around the country. Abdul Aziz Al-Khalaf, the head of the Traffic Department in Qassim, has said meanwhile that 304,479 traffic offenses were recorded last year, 33,456 up on the previous year. Al-Khalaf said however that the rise in figures was due to the concerted awareness-raising efforts during a 45-day campaign in which both office staff and traffic police worked together to reprimand offenders. “This will have an effect on motorists in the future as offenders will take greater care if they know they're going to be caught,” Al-Khalaf said. He said that future campaigns would include working with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry to target private company staff. Authorities in the province of Qassim announced Wednesday that their “My Safety is My Responsibility” safe-driving campaign would begin in the middle of May.
