RIYADH: The traffic camera system “Saher” is to be introduced in six more cities next month, Traffic Police have said. Motorists in Tabuk, Abha, Khamis Mushayt, Dammam, Dhahran and Al-Khobar will all come under the Saher eye following the successful implementation of the system in Riyadh. “Accident rates have fallen dramatically where the cameras have been installed,” Sulaiman Al-Ajlan, Chief of Traffic Police, told a press conference in Riyadh Monday. Al-Ajlan added that 10,000 speed limit warning signs would also be erected in Saher-covered zones. The traffic chief noted that 1.9 million accidents had occurred over the last five years, leaving 30,000 dead and 177,000 injured. Burst tires caused 3,000 accidents alone, and Al-Ajlan appealed to the Ministry of Trade and Industry to set up more testing laboratories. “In the last five years 236,000 car tires were examined, but the current number of laboratories is not enough,” he said. He added that total of 46 million traffic offenses were recorded during the period. Khaled Al-Qahtani, head of Road Security, revealed that his department had in the last two weeks dealt with 250 accidents in which 60 people died and 290 were injured. “Our department, which covers 90 percent of inter-regional and intercity main roads and 20 percent of other roads, has reached an agreement with the Saudi Red Crescent to build helipads (on interregional and intercity roads) for medical evacuation,” he said.
