Faisal Saad Al-Juhani Al-Madinah newspaperJEDDAH – There are various reasons other than the city's increasing population behind the growing traffic congestion and bottlenecks that we have become accustomed to. Just a few of these reasons are the number of detours on roads, potholes, construction projects, and traffic accidents which take hours for Jeddah Police to resolve. What compounds the situation are the meaningless statements that officials in different governmental agencies release from time to time often including vague promises which have at this point, become a source of mockery for drivers in Jeddah. An example of one such empty statement was made by Brig. Muhammad Hassan Al-Qahtani, Director of Jeddah Traffic Police, when he said, “The increasing population and traffic in Jeddah is responsible for the congestion at roundabouts, a matter that has constituted a huge burden during peak hours. A committee was formed by a ministerial order to meet twice a week on Sunday and Tuesday to solve the traffic congestion in Jeddah. The meeting comprises Jeddah Traffic Police, the Mayoralty, and roads and transportation administrations." This raises a few crucial questions: Does Brig. Al-Qahtani think there is no other reason for the traffic congestion in Jeddah? Is he under the assumption that the number of inhabitants in major cities around the world remain unchanged? If that is the case, how does his administration draw its annual traffic plans? Yes, while the increase in population could be a factor in the traffic congestion, the detours are a far likelier cause. For example, Al-Haramain Expressway, with its detour located in front of the air force base, turns into a spot where dangerous collisions are inevitable. Every morning at 9 A.M., this small area is riddled with commuters going from north Jeddah to the south, the downtown area, students going to King Abdulaziz University, as well as truck drivers and sewage tankers. In this small area, the cars persevere and crawl at a snail's pace until they reach their destinations. There are numerous other examples of Jeddah roads being too small to accommodate traffic, thus causing congestion – all of which I have no space here to enumerate. Drivers in the Bride of the Sea have no respite but to pray to Allah to help Jeddah. I believe that despite the ministerially-endorsed meeting which takes place bi-weekly, these problems persist and the Jeddah Traffic Administration will continue to battle traffic congestion.
