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More than 50 percent of traffic accidents in Jeddah over the past six months were caused by speeding.
“Traffic accidents leave behind a trail of death and incapacitating injuries,” said Brig. Zaid Al-Hamzi , spokesman of the Jeddah Traffic Administration. “The administration dealt with 400 accidents in the past six months. Most of them were on the expressways and the survivors were often permanently disabled or paralyzed,” he added.
He urged motorists, especially the young drivers, not to exceed the speed limit on expressways, pointing out that a lack of road sense in young drivers was a major cause of accidents.
Arab News spoke to some victims who met with major accidents because of excessive confidence in their driving skills leading to their disregard for all traffic safety regulations.
The young men, many of them amputees or with serious spinal cord injuries which have left them bedridden or confined to wheelchairs, have probably learned their lesson too late.
“I met with an accident because of my mad speed. When I turned for a second to change the cassette tape, a stray camel appeared on the road. Before I could do anything, the car hit the animal and I don’t know what happened next. When I came to, I was lying on the road and could not move. It was pitch dark and I didn’t know if I was in the middle of the road or on the roadside. Several cars passed by very close to me but no one stopped to help me even though, I was shrieking with pain,” said Tariq Al-Otaibi who survived an accident on a highway.
“However, after an hour or so some men stopped by me and carried me to their car. It was an extremely painful experience,” he said, adding that he has been bedridden since the accident occurred 15 years ago. His advice to other drivers is to fully concentrate on their driving.
“Speeding changed the course of my life. While I was driving on a major thoroughfare, something went wrong with my steering wheel. I was approaching a bend but the steering wheel refused to budge. Even though I survived the crash that followed, some bones behind my neck were irreparably damaged and I was permanently disabled,” Hamad Al-Murri said. His advice: Resist the temptation for speeding as any diversion of attention or unforeseen development could lead to an accident which would either spell the end of the driver or cause lasting physical disability.
“Some drivers believe that they can control their cars in any situation and drive at unimaginable speeds. I believe that no driver speeding above 120 km can control his car,” he said, stressing the need for deterrent punishment to those who talk on their mobile phones while driving.
Muhammad Al-Qahtani, a lucky survivor of an accident, said he went last year with one of his friends on a rainy day to a location where youth performed stunts with their cars. “One of the stunt cars rammed into my car which I had parked nearby to get a clear view of the stunt. My friend’s head spiked through the glass window, causing his immediate death. We were rushed to hospital but my friend was already dead,” he said. Al-Qahtani appealed to young drivers not to even watch car stunts because one never knows in which direction the danger may lie.
Turki Al-Mansouri said he and his family went to Obhur recently on a vacation. His younger brother hired a beach buggy which didn’t have any safety equipment. He was lucky he said to survive but lost some of his fingers.