Bassami, vice chairman of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry's Public Transport Committee, has said that the Saher road safety system in operation in Riyadh will not be introduced to other regions until it has undergone modification. “The Public Transport Committee has been receiving complaints from car rental firms saying that the Saher system in Riyadh had recorded traffic offenses in their names and not the members of the public who hired their vehicles,” Al-Bassami said. According to Al-Bassami, the National Public Transport Committee at the Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce met recently with traffic officials from Riyadh and asked that they halt the introduction of the Saher system in other parts of the country until the problem has been rectified. “The request was accepted and the relevant authorities are working on the changes,” Al-Bassami said. He added, however, that the Saher system, which has cameras monitoring traffic and recording offenses in order to issue fines through an automated system, will still forge ahead. “The relevant bodies are quite capable of making the necessary changes to the system so that it can be put into effect properly across the country,” Al-Bassami said. Figures for the first month of operation of the Saher system in the capital, meanwhile, reveal a considerable fall in the number of fatal accidents, Al-Watan Arabic daily reported Thursday. Riyadh Traffic chief Abdul Rahman Al-Muqbil told Al-Watan that the first four-week period saw a fall from 14,094 accidents to 10,385, with a reduction in road deaths from 37 to 20. The number of injured from motor accidents likewise fell from 249 to 110. Al-Watan reported, however, that parts of Riyadh where the Saher cameras had yet to be installed were being turned into “traffic anarchy” zones, reflecting on the part of drivers “a fear of being caught in areas with monitoring cameras rather than any awareness of the importance of complying with traffic regulations”. Saher is an automated traffic control and management system covering major cities in Saudi Arabia, and uses the technology of digital cameras network linked with the National Information Center of the Ministry of Interior, according to its website.
