Weekend rush combined with the holiday season resulted in three traffic accidents on roads in northern Taif, Wednesday night. The accidents resulted in the death of nine people, including a family of four, while 13 others were injured. The first accident took place on Dhulam-Afeef Road when a pile-up of three cars led to the death of one person and injuries to two others. Minutes later, a car carrying a family of seven people overturned near Otaif on Taif-Riyadh Road. The family members suffered injuries and were rushed to the health center and later transferred to hospitals in Taif. A third accident took place near Al-Khurmah Governorate, resulting in the death of four members of a family. Four others from another family were injured. The accident occurred when a GMC carrying a family of four collided head-on with a Honda carrying another family of four members – two men, a woman and a boy. A Ford driven by a youth caused a pile-up leading to deaths and injuries. The youth driving the Ford also sustained multiple injuries. They were all rushed to Al-Khurmah Hospital. Sa'eed Al-Zahrani, Spokesman of Taif Health Department, said the Ministry of Health teams were kept on alert when they received the accident report. Medical teams were rushed to the scenes of the accidents to help in the rescue efforts with support from the Red Crescent. Saudi Arabia has one of the highest traffic accident rates in the world. Some 5,000 die in traffic accidents annually here. No less that 30,000 are injured and maimed. Economic cost to the Kingdom due to road traffic accidents is SR21 billion per year ($5.6 billion) which is equivalent to 4.6% of the national revenue. Some 80% of traffic fatalities in the Kingdom are below 40 years of age, and 30 percent of these victims are children. Total numbers of injuries and deaths in the past 25 years have been over half a million, which is equivalent to 3.5% of the total population of Saudi Arabia. – Okaz __
