RIYADH – Traffic police for the first time this Haj season will test mobile technology to electronically identify vehicles by placing cameras connected directly to the database of the National Information Center on the roads and main entrances to Makkah. Brig. Abdul Rahman Al-Muqbil, the local director of traffic police, said these cameras will identify vehicles permitted to enter the holy city. The cameras will send a signal to a control center verifying its permit, the number of pilgrims it is permitted to transport and details about the vehicle's driver. This was revealed at a press conference held at the traffic police headquarters in Riyadh to shed light on the traffic plan for this Haj season, especially in implementing the Council of Ministers' directive to ban the usage of vehicles that carry less than 25 passengers. Al-Muqbil said the recognition technology will be tested this year at the Al-Shumaisi entry point to Makkah. Monitoring will be completely electronic and will identify the vehicles, their projected route, how many have entered, and the passengers' names. He pointed out that the Al-Mashaer Train's capacity will increase this year to 500,000 pilgrims, up from 250,000 last year, to reduce the number of buses. He added this year's plan will ensure vehicular traffic and pedestrians are kept separate from each other. The Aziziah flyover is connected to Jamarat this year, whereas in the past only the King Khalid flyover was the only connection. Al-Muqbil added this year's Haj will witness the activation of a committee consisting of representatives from the municipality, traffic police and all other Haj related bodies to tackle anti-social behavior. The inspection points at Al-Sayel and Al-Zaimah, which witness large volumes of traffic during the Haj season, will be modernized before the beginning of this year's pilgrimage. He said any driver using anti-depressant pills will not be able to obtain a license and there will be ongoing inspections by local authorities to ensure the safety of the pilgrims. A SR1,500 fine will be imposed on violating drivers who do not have entry permits if caught at the entrance to Makkah, and up to SR5,000 if caught within the holy sites. He said vehicles carrying less than 25 passengers and pilgrims should not attempt to enter Makkah as they will be prosecuted. Al-Muqbil said managing traffic and pilgrims in Muzdalifah will be a great challenge due to its limited capacity of no more than 8,000 vehicles, even though vehicles entering the holy site usually number around 60,000, of which 20,000 are buses. The traffic plan for this year was presented to Prince Ahmad Bin Abdul Aziz, Minister of Interior, and his assistant Prince Mohammad Bin Naif for their review, he added. The traffic police work with other security bodies, he said. There will be six main entrances to Makkah to reduce overcrowding at inspection points, he said. He said there is a separate command point for airspace monitoring in cooperation with the air force and the Ministry of Interior and helicopters will be available to quickly tackle emergencies. Al-Muqbil praised the cooperation of the Makkah governorate led by Prince Khaled Al-Faisal and the residents of Makkah in contributing to the success of the Haj traffic plan.
