Jeddah - Nearly 33 percent of accidents involving pedestrians on Saudi roads are caused by the negligence of the pedestrians themselves, according to a study conducted by Hassan bin Abdullah Al-Farraj, a post-graduate student of Naif Arab University for Security Sciences.
Al-Farraj, who conducted the study for his master's program, emphasized the importance of providing zebra crossings near traffic lights for pedestrians to cross the road. However, he pointed out that many drivers ignore pedestrian crossings.
Al-Farraj found that reckless driving causes 62 percent of road accidents in the Kingdom.
The study focused on people involved in runover accidents, the reasons for such accidents and the type of physical injuries they suffered.
According to the study, speeding carelessly causes 40 percent of accidents involving pedestrians while speeding alone causes 12 percent of such accidents. "This shows that about 62 percent of accidents in the Kingdom are caused by speeding," Al-Farraj said.
Al-Farraj, who depended on the statistics published by the Traffic Department for his research, said 42 percent of the victims of run-over accidents were children below 15.
"Among these 21 percent were fatal," he added. The study found that 67 percent of traffic lights in the Kingdom lacked pedestrian crossings and that 37 percent of drivers ignore them even if they are marked out.
Brig. Siraj bin Abdul Rahman Kamal, director of traffic in Madinah, emphasized the importance of the study and urged the public to cross roads only in specified areas.
"The Traffic Department prevents entry of vehicles to the central region of the holy city of Makkah for half an hour before and after every prayer in order to avoid runover accidents," he said, adding that drivers should have a culture of respecting the pedestrian right of way.
Saudi Arabia has one of the largest road accident rates in the world. Last year 435,264 accidents took place on roads across the Kingdom.
"This shows that 50 accidents take place every hour and 1,209 every day," a senior traffic official said.
"These accidents have killed 6,358 people injured 36,025 others," the official added.
Head injuries account for 29.4 percent injuries caused by road accidents, followed by chest injuries (13.4 percent) and spinal cord injuries (3.2 percent). In Jeddah alone 490 people died in road accidents last year.
© Arab News 2009
