How to Reduce Car Accidents in Saudi Arabia

A discovery of oil in Saudi Arabia has increased the living standards of most people in the country. Higher living standards and purchasing power means that the population can own an automobile under easier conditions, since oil is also much cheaper as compared to other countries. This increase has prompted the changes in the country’s road networks. The consequences of this expanding economy have increased the traffic accidents. For the last three decades, the recoded number of tragic deaths and injuries on the roads has also been on a steady rise. There are approximately 29,000 traffic accidents that happen every year. Of these accidents, more than 4100 people lose their lives and about 28,000 are injured. The major predisposing factor for road accidents in Saudi Arabia is over speeding. The government can reduce the number of car accidents by setting up traffic cameras and appropriate road signs to warn driving motorists of camel crossings in rural highways and pedestrians and, thus, reducing the rate of fatal incidents. 

To effectively reduce the rate of accidents in Saudi Arabia, the government regulations have borrowed heavily from common solutions applied in the rest of the world. One of these solutions is the seat belt. The seat belt is one of the widely used methods for the reduction of the road accident fatalities worldwide. The government of Saudi Arabia made it mandatory for all drivers and car passenger on the 5^th of December 2000. The authorities hoped for the improvements in the safety of traffic flow and that the records would reduce the rate of the occurrence of the accidents. 

Seat belts have reduced the fatalities of accidents in Saudi Arabia because of the mechanisms that they have employed during an accident occurrence. When a crash happens, seat belts hold the passengers in place and prevent any collisions with objects like the dashboards or for the passenger being tossed out through the windscreen. The net effect is a decrease in fatal accidents and death rates. Adopting the use of seat belts has demonstrated the reduction of both the injuries and fatalities recorded in the event of road accidents.

Bendak has carried out a statistical hypothesis test with the main aim to determine several injury categories and define how it has affected the adoption of the seat belts law (367). The study was conducted in Kuwaiti, where a similar law was enforced on adoption of the seat belts in 1994. The amount of vertebral, pelvis, skull and head injuries has significantly gone down with the enactment and enforcement of the use of seat belts for all automobiles. These results share a common trend with other results from other studies that recorded a significant reduction in the head, face, abdominal and limb injuries.

There has been an increase in the number of collisions involving camels and vehicle recorded in Saudi Arabia, because there are almost one million camels that graze without restraint in the country. Camels travel vast distances in search of pasture, and most incidents are recorded as the camels cross rural highways. There are more than 600 of these collisions that occur annually as shown in traffic accident data (Shimemeri and Arabi 4). These accidents have an abnormally high fatality rate, which is about four times more than all other accidents recorded in the country. Furthermore, due to the speed of the moving vehicles and the large size of the animals, the reported rates of injury are also multiplied by a factor of four (Shimemeri and Arabi 2). There is an urgent need for countermeasures to bring these rates down as they are associated with staggering monetary losses as well as other non-monetary losses.

Areas that experience a high rate of camel crossings have seen several warning signs being put up. These signs serve as warnings for drivers of the potential danger involved with encountering and hitting such animals. Despite these efforts, accidents involving and primarily caused by camel crossing continues to be high. As a result, the King Abdulaziz City of Sciences and Technology has put several financial resources to fund a research project aimed at researching and finding better long-term solutions to solve the problem.

Different warning signs are currently tested for measuring how efficient they are in instructing drivers to slow down their cars in roads that are more likely to have camel car encounters and crashes. Of all the signs put in place, none of them has shown considerable effect in lowering the fatalities associated with the crashes. The triangular sign with the double-size and a diamond-shaped reflective material has shown to be the most effective (Al-Ghamadi and AlGadhi 750). This type of sign was recommended to be used in roads that needed extra care and attention due to a high rate of camel crossing. Only an insignificant variability reduction was noted in regards to speed variability because of speed signs put on the road sides as a means to reduce the accidents as discovered from the study (Al-Ghamadi and AlGadhi 752). On the other side, it was noted that the number of drivers who would drive over the set limit did significantly reduce on roads where the signs were put up.

Road traffic fatalities represent a mortality rate of 10 percent in Saudi Arabia. As a result of these injuries, the country incurs a staggering 7 billion dollars annual medical and property losses. The police force that follows traffic networks and enforces traffic rules in Saudi Arabia implemented a nationwide camera ticketing system. The role of the ticketing system was to considerably reduce fatal crashes as a result of over speeding incidents.

In Saudi Arabia as well as in the majority of other countries, the speed that thrills is the speed that also kills. Driving above the recommended speed limits has been a major cause of all traffic accidents. It is one of the main risk factors for a high mortality rate and injury severity. The majority of all crashes in the country are a direct result of over speeding as found out through the post-accident investigation reports. A camera ticketing system was found to be very effective in incentivizing drivers not to speed at will and in disregard of all traffic rules. 

This system is automated and is commonly known as Saher. It was introduced all over the country in May, 2010. It controls and manages traffic through a system that incorporates a network of digital cameras countrywide. The Ministry of Interior in Saudi Arabia incorporates digital cameras and operates them from the National Center of Information (NIC). In the capital of Riyadh, there are two cameras installed in several areas of the city, stationary and mobile cameras. The mobile cameras are usually hidden behind power posts or trees along the roads that have a speed limit that exceeds 64 kilometers per hour.

Once the motorist commits a traffic violation, the automated camera takes an image of the vehicle, and the plate information is then processed by the NIC to identify the owner. After this, the owner of the car receives a text message within 24 hours (Alghnam et al. 4). The sent message contains the type, the place of occurrence, and the amount the driver is required to pay for the violation. The driver is required to pay for the offense within a month and a failure do it will result in additional financial penalties. 

The camera ticketing system has seen positive results with its implementation. King Abdul-Aziz Medical City, for example, recorded significant reductions in both mortality and injury severity among patients admitted to the facility as a result of road accidents. Head injuries amounted to about 44.4% of the total injuries before the implementation of the system. This reduced to about 36.3% after implementation. A significant improvement in the injury severity measures and mortality was also noted with the implementation of the system (Alghnam et al. 5)

The road traffic accidents have been considered to be as a growing public health concern in the Arabian Gulf and other developing countries. This has mainly been contributed by the oil discovery in 1950s. The oil boom period has caused a drastic change in the lives of people in the Arabian Gulf and other similar countries in the region. There has been an expanding population and the number of vehicles, accompanied by expanding road construction programs (Bender et al. 606). However, a large number of road accidents that have resulted in high fatality have been recorded since it was observed that change in the behavior of drivers was slow. Moreover, road user behavior is reckless. It has been observed that motorists frequently disregard traffic laws and pedestrians do not use the designated areas to cross the road nor do they check for traffic before crossing. It is important to note that the most affected by these accidents are mainly the young males who are economically active.

To improve the road safety, different measures can be implemented. These usually fall into two main groups, direct and indirect. The direct or technical methods include employing different land use approaches, improving road conditions and vehicle design, enforcing traffic laws and improving medical and healthcare services and insurance premiums. The indirect or institutional measures are usually associated with road safety organizations. These measures involve financing such organizations, carrying out additional research on accident prevention, further development of the existing methods, staff education, and training.

The ministry of public health in several countries regards road accidents as a public health menace due to their wide impact on people’s health. To effectively tackle this problem, it is recommended that the engineers work in close association with other experts in other fields such as health and education. Road safety measures do not fall entirely on the road engineers. Therefore, improvement of other disciplines will go a major way in the reduction of road accidents.

Over the recent years, the oil boom has revised the economic per capita income of the most residents in Saudi Arabia upwards. This has consequently resulted in an increased availability of the automobiles in most households as people in Saudi Arabia earn more money purchasing vehicles much cheaper. However, until recently, women in Saudi Arabia were not permitted to drive. This opened more employment opportunities for chauffeurs as many people preferred hiring drivers (Isaa 27). A lot of pressure is also put on the men and especially the young generation, who are required to learn how to drive at a rather young age since their families are heavily depended on them in terms of transportation.

The reports from the Saudi police have shown that there are three main factors that contribute to road accidents in the country. These are the road condition, the state of the vehicles, and road users. It was further observed that in 2013, ninety-one percent of all the accidents recorded involved human factors, that is, the road users, seven percent was associated with the condition of the vehicle, and only two percent resulted from the road condition (Ministry of Interior, 2013). Boufous (2002) observed that the driver’s fatigue at night, especially after midnight, is the main factor contributing to most of the traffic accidents associated with drivers less than thirty years old. In the study, Issa distributed a questionnaire among the drivers who were involved in the road crashes with an aim to describe their conditions and also to identify the possible causes of the accidents. Divided into three parts, the questionnaire majored on the driver’s certain personal information such as age and academic level, details about the accidents such as time and location and the driver’s knowledge of and response to the traffic signs.

It was observed that about sixty percent of all accidents are associated with drivers who are less than thirty years old, while elderly drivers who are more than fifty years old are involved in four percent of the accidents. Only fifty-two percent of motorists involved in accidents comprehend traffic signs written in English, while about eighty-seven of them understand those written in Arabic. Drivers with less than a year of driving experience were involved in fewer accidents as compared to those with a driving experience of more than five years.

To mitigate the increasing problem of road accidents, a law has put the restrictions on the driving age limiting those who can get a driving license to eighteen years and the academic level to the school certificate. Also, the driving schools’ curriculum should be amended by those concerned to include teaching on the many laws and regulations involving driving and the practice of those rules.

Comparing Saudi Arabia to other developed countries, it was found that Saudi Arabia has an unusually high rate of traffic accidents. Road accidents are a major cause of the deaths of young males in the country. The most reported cause of these accidents has been poor driving habits, in addition to poor road conditions and vehicles that are not roadworthy. It is reported that about nineteen people are killed every day and about four people are injured every hour. This shows how these accidents are increasingly becoming a great health concern in Saudi Arabia (Al-Ghamdi 238). Moreover, the most affected age group is the youth who are the most economically productive in the society. This raises concern even over all aspects of the society, including the economy.

A review conducted on all aspects of the reports on the road accidents has shown that there have been some areas, crucial in accident prevention, which have been neglected. This lapse has led to an increasing number of deaths resulting from the road accidents. Post-crash care with entails hospital care before and during treatment and the identification of the behavior of the young drivers that would contribute to road accidents are among the areas neglected.

To improve post-crash hospital care, an active surveillance system has been developed all over the country. This has been done with the purpose to alter the driving habits of the young drivers to reduce the frequency of the accidents and severity of the resulting injuries. The system has also played a huge role in understanding the dynamics involving road accidents in the region and also in the coming up of programs relevant to the prevention of road accidents.

The system has further been improved with the distribution of pamphlets with helpful health messages at common points, such as schools and shopping malls. Also, strict laws regarding driving should be implemented in residential areas. Alternative recreational options can also be provided to draw youths from speed racing in residential areas which have had tragic effects. Communities have been encouraged to establish more family-friendly facilities within gated communities such as amusement parks and sports complexes. Training in first aid response should also be encouraged among community members as a pre-hospital care component of lessening the effects and resulting complications of road accidents.

In conclusion, speed is an important factor in reducing the rate of accidents happening in Saudi Arabia. Speed is a major killer and several initiatives around reducing accidents in the country are organized to enforce adherence to speed limits in the country. To do this, several road signs have been placed in the areas that experience pedestrian traffic and camel crossings, especially in the rural areas. Camera ticketing systems have also been installed around the country. As road motor accidents continue to pose a serious risk to the lives of the Saudi Arabians, the government has also enforced the use of seat belts in all cars and accidents have been classified as an issue of public health. There is hope that these initiatives will bring down the rate of occurrence of such accidents amongst others.