A traffic safety official in the Eastern Province has said there are basic flaws in the country's road regulations, which needs a drastic change. Citing the growing number of road accidents in the country, Sultan Al-Zahrani, general secretary of the Eastern Province Traffic Safety Committee, said: "We need to revise the traffic law in the Kingdom. We need to update it and test the application of its articles on real life. Something about the law is not serving its purpose. The rate of road accidents in the Kingdom is very high." He was reacting to accident figures reported by Najm for Insurance Services in its latest monthly report. The company, which handles accidents where no deaths or injuries occur, said it responded to a total of 82,281 road accidents in the month of January. Accidents involving deaths or injuries are attended to by the traffic police. Najm's monthly report reveals the total number of road accidents the company responds to assess damage. The report also gives a breakdown of accidents in various regions of the Kingdom. According to Najm's monthly report of January, Riyadh had 28,000 accidents, Jeddah 15,000 and Dammam 6,000. Al-Zahrani said the number Najm presented in its report is addressing the rate of accidents with no injuries. "So many people die or are critically injured because of road accidents. They could be the causers of the accidents or they could just be innocent pedestrians or even drivers who did not break the law or had not committed any mistake. They are all victims and the price they pay for simple driving mistakes is too high," said Al-Zahrani. He added the main causes of road accidents are speeding, running a traffic light, not fastening the seatbelt, using the cell phone while driving, not following the traffic safety and security regulations and drifting. "The penalties currently stated in traffic law are not severe enough and are endangering the lives of millions by being ineffective," said Al-Zahrani. Najm published some statistics on factors that increase the risk of accidents. According to the company's analysis of the data, texting while driving increased the risk of accidents by 23 times. Talking on the phone while driving and using one hand to hold the cell phone increased the risk of accidents four times. Pedestrians aged 15 to 29 are more likely to die in road accidents. The rate of road accidents is three times higher at night than day hours because drivers might doze off or their vision becomes hazy.
