How to combat the many deadly roadside accidents in the ME?

[p(-)0ENiX]

There are a number of reasons for the high number of car accidents here. Firstly, you need not pass any driving test to acquire a driving license here, a small bribe will help you purchase the license. This means that a number of people with licenses, including teenagers or young adults have pretty much nonexistent formal training & their driving skills haven't been approved. Some people are probably roaming around without licenses too. I have heard of a few accidents where kids just took their fathers' cars without permission & ended up getting killed. A significant number of people in the younger & in some cases even the older population lack awareness regarding driving rules, such as the 2 cars length of space between vehicles, indicators when changing lanes, etc. Even if they do know those rules, they are hardly followed. Look at the seat belts regulation for instance, women sitting in the front seat need not wear their seat belts, neither does the law enforcement force them to wear them during random stops at check points.

Even the driver could get away with not wearing a seat belt here, it all depends upon the mood of the police officers at check points. Drifting & over speeding are of course 2 other causes for road accidents here with over speeding being more common. Another point that needs to be added is that in Saudi Arabia, families prefer to own larger & obviously more powerful vehicles. Those vehicles are often difficult for teenagers to control without practice or prior guidance. Anyone that's driven various different vehicles can attest to that, & a number of accidents have actually occurred due to that. Due to the constructions going on in Jeddah these days alongside some terrible traffic jams, some people probably disregard safety out of frustration. Anyway, these were just some of the reasons I could think of leading to a greater number of car accidents. The solution would be to solve these issues through awareness campaigns, stricter law enforcement, etc.

 

[al-Hasani]

@p(-)0ENiX
I agree completely. You raised some good points that were not covered.

I find it very ironic that a country like KSA which overall has a strict legal system is SO absurdly lenient when it comes to something as crucial as traffic laws and road security. Among the biggest killers in the country.

But as the statistics show then this is a big problem in most of the ME but at least in KSA there are resources and a law and order to combat and focus on this issue. The roads are usually wide and not of a bad quality even the mountainous ones. I am talking about the main roads, highways etc.

So in theory KSA should not have that many fatal road accidents but unfortunately the reality is very frightening and damaging.

There have been campaigns in the past but I find it strange that they have somewhat disappeared again from the public.

Most importantly the law must get reinforced.

 

[Serpentine]

In Iran, it's firstly reckless driving, then car safety standards and lastly, roads, especially in mountainous roads which we have too much of them, in winters. Even if you drive a crappy car, but still respect the law, chances of any accident will reduce significantly. People are the first to blame.

 

[Full Moon]

There is also this idea (among young drivers especially) that the more law abiding driver you are, the more boring you become.

For some reason, they think that being a bad driver is cool -- and will always guarantee extra attention.

 

[Peaceful Civilian]

Accident rate in Pakistan is very low. May be due to motorway, fences on both side of road while accident happens on local roads but still nothing compared to rate of other countries even some stupid people drive wrong side of local roads.

 

[p(-)0ENiX]

@p(-)0ENiX
I agree completely. You raised some good points that were not covered.

I find it very ironic that a country like KSA which overall has a strict legal system is SO absurdly lenient when it comes to something as crucial as traffic laws and road security. Among the biggest killers in the country.

But as the statistics show then this is a big problem in most of the ME but at least in KSA there are resources and a law and order to combat and focus on this issue. The roads are usually wide and not of a bad quality even the mountainous ones. I am talking about the main roads, highways etc.

So in theory KSA should not have that many fatal road accidents but unfortunately the reality is very frightening and damaging.

There have been campaigns in the past but I find it strange that they have somewhat disappeared again from the public.

Most importantly the law must get reinforced.

Yeah, there is considerable leniency when it comes to disregard of some basic traffic laws here, but if someone is involved in a fatal accident then the law is unrelenting. There are some good points about the law enforcement system here too, for instance; leniency is shown to traffic violators that are accompanied by their families. The solutions aren't that difficult to implement either, but pretty much every public awareness campaign is going to have to place a special emphasis on parents & must continue to operate in the long run. Some of the worst incidents I have heard off involve negligent or foolish families. If not that, then it's often some teenagers egging their friend to do some foolish maneuver with the vehicle while driving. I am sure everyone is aware of the fact that at a younger age, people are far more susceptible to peer pressure.Yes, I agree that car accidents are a concern in the Middle East, but the solutions for this issue should be somewhat applicable to most nations.

The main roads, highways et cetera are alright, but in Jeddah for instance; the creation of underpasses & overhead bridges caused severe disruption in the traffic flow previously. Add to that the old Jeddah floods, leading to a significant delay in construction & reparations. Don't worry too much about the infrastructure at the moment, it's noticeably improving & most residents would be aware of that by now. At this point an efficient rain water drainage system is what's truly needed. All in all, accidents here shouldn't be linked primarily with infrastructure. In my opinion, the main cause are societal ills, such as ignorance of driving rules, the enforcement of those rules, etc. By the way, there are private traffic companies monitoring traffic conditions & accidents here, & undercover traffic police officers patrol some highways in unmarked cars. That should improve the situation in the long run. If Saudi Arabia develops an excellent public transport system, the government may want to consider introducing laws that strip repeated traffic violators of their driving license or suspend it temporarily.

 

[Wahhab2701]

I thought about making this thread just seconds ago when I read the news in a Saudi Arabian newspaper called Okaz that reported deaths due to roadside accidents in recent days. A normal occurrence nearly daily.

That got me thinking and I took a quick look at the statistics. Not to my surprise I figured out that the ME region has among the highest rates in the world when it comes to traffic related deaths. This is clearly visible when one takes a look at the fatalities per 100.000 inhabitants per year.

List of countries by traffic-related death rate - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Eritrea tops the list with 48.4 road facilities per 100.000 inhabitants per year.

The Dominican Republic is second, Libya third, Thailand fourth, Venezuela fifth, Iran sixth, Nigeria seventh, South Africa eight, Iraq ninth and Guinea Bissau is tenth.

So in the top 10 we have 3 countries from the ME.

If we go down the list a little we find Oman as number 11, Mauritania number 15, Sudan number 19, Saudi Arabia number 22, Yemen number 27, Jordan number 31, Syria number 32, Lebanon number 38, Comoros number 42, Tunisia number 68, Morocco number 75, Kuwait number 84, Qatar number 104, Egypt number 110, UAE number 116, Bahrain number 131, Israel number 176 and Palestine number 177.

There are some of those countries and their location on that list that I do not understand.

Yes, countries like KSA, Oman, Yemen, Iran etc. have many mountainous areas which by virtue of their location are more dangerous than big roads in more flat areas but this is not the full explanation. I know that KSA at least have roads above the world standard and that of ME, often very wide too but despite this KSA ranks very high on the list.

Is it bound in recklessness? Bad infrastructure or what is it? People by now should be aware of the dangers. What are the solutions to this problem and how do we explain that a country like Egypt is first found as number 110 but more wealthy countries are located way higher on the list?
Egypt unlike many of the other Arab countries is totally flat outside of Sinai…. and the roads don't strike me as better than those in the rest of the Arab world, in particular the GCC, rather the opposite in fact.

There have been many campaigns, at least in KSA, that have promoted safe driving but it seems that this makes little difference.

Discuss.

Jeeezzzz......you beat us in traffc fatality by far and that is without female drivers????? Well, wait until you have women driving in your street. Women are the worst drivers. No offence to female members but what I said is a fact.

 

[al-Hasani]

@p(-)0ENiX

It seems that somebody from the government is reading this forum. First I talked about the need for developing a lasting tourism sector for months and a few weeks ago they planned to introduce a tourism visa for the first time.

Now this.

Get the drift: 5 years, SR40,000 fine await you

RIYADH: KHALID TAWALBEH

Published — Tuesday 7 January 2014

Last update 7 January 2014 4:27 am

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The government is applying brakes on the widespread menace of drifting.
Under the new laws, drifting, previously considered a traffic violation, will now be considered a criminal offense. Drifting is a driving technique that involves tilting a high-performance car on two wheels at very high speeds in a meandering motion.
First-time drifters will be referred to the Bureau of Investigation and Prosecution and then to the court. They will face confiscation of their vehicle for a month and incur a fine of SR10,000. Repeat offenders will lose their vehicles for three months and will incur a fine of SR20,000. They will face incarceration for six to 12 months. Third-time offenders will see their vehicles impounded for anywhere between one and five years and will be liable to pay a fine of SR40,000.
This comes in the wake of the increasing numbers of traffic-related accidents in the Kingdom.
Supreme committees are said to be putting the finishing touches to the new regulations.
Individuals found to be in the passenger seats or individuals who may have offered aid as well as spectators are considered accomplices and liable to a fine of SR1,500 or confiscation of their vehicles for 15 days or more.​

There is hope after all.

Get the drift: 5 years, SR40,000 fine await you | Arab News — Saudi Arabia News, Middle East News, Opinion, Economy and more.​