BISHA — The 103-km-long road linking Bisha and Sabt Al-Olaya, one of the main arteries in the southern province of Asir, has witnessed many accidents over the past years. People living along the busy road have called upon the authorities to make it a dual carriageway to minimize the occurrence of head-on crashes. "It will not be an exaggeration if I say that there is not a single family in Bisha and Sabt Al-Olaya governorates without a road accident victim," Sayyaf Al-Aklabi told Okaz/Saudi Gazette while highlighting the growing number of accidents on the road. "This is now a two-way road that allows vehicles to travel in both directions. The road should be expanded and converted into a freeway with a median barrier to avoid deadly accidents that have already killed hundreds of people," he said, adding that driving on this road has become an adventure. "The road's white and yellow lines and cat's eye reflectors have disappeared. This is one of the reasons why accidents have increased on this particular road," he explained. He accused the Transport Ministry of negligence toward this vital road, which is used by hundreds of vehicles and motorists daily. "Even the growing numbers of accidents have not convinced the authorities the need to expand the road," he pointed out. Moreover, the road is not maintained regularly and there are several potholes endangering the lives of motorists and other road users. "We also suffer from a lack of Red Crescent outposts on the road and accident victims have to wait Red Crescent paramedics to arrive from far-off places." Al-Aklabi urged the authorities to eliminate dangerous curves on the road. "People of Bisha and Sabt Al-Olaya want immediate action to expand the road into a dual carriageway and establish a number of Red Crescent outposts along the road to quickly attend to accident victims," he added. A number of accidents take place in front of the Electricity Company in Shudaik as a result of trucks crossing the road to enter the company premises. Al-Aklabi urged the authorities to find another place to park these trucks in order to avoid recurrent accidents. Thunaya and Mafrak Hauran are two other major accident points on the road and efforts should be made to reduce such accidents by taking necessary precautionary measures. The popular market in Tabala should be shifted to another place to ensure public safety, he added.
