Editorial: Road accidents or human errors?

A recent finding of a survey that 69 percent of motorists drive along talking into their phones is shocking. But it is no surprise. Most of us have seen drivers speeding along with their mobiles pressed to their ear with one hand, while with the other they are gesticulating wildly.
The survey by King Abdul Aziz National Dialogue Center paints a dismal picture of road safety in the Kingdom. Our roads are the most dangerous in the world. On an average 20 people are killed in 1,400 automotive crashes every single day. Thirty-five others suffer often crippling and disfiguring injuries.
The survey found that the majority of road users — almost 60 percent — ignore traffic regulations. Some 12 percent admitted to disregarding traffic lights. A third of drivers do not bother with seat belts. And over 40 percent regularly exceed the speed limit.
Is it any wonder that Saudi roads are the most dangerous on the planet? Repeated government road safety campaigns are clearly failing to get the message across. This is because it is being communicated wrongly.
Time and again safety campaigners refer to road “accidents”.
An accident is something unforeseen which could not have been prevented. In reality there are very few accidents. On construction sites there are lists of rules and procedures that have to be followed. Workers should not be on site without a hard hat. If they are hit on the head by something, it is not an accident. It is an injury that has occurred because one or more people chose to flout basic safety practice. It was not an accident. It was an event that could have been avoided. Had the rules been observed, it would not have happened. Someone is to blame for that injury.
Yet when it comes to road safety, everyone — media included — insists on referring to car wrecks as “accidents”. This is, in every sense, a fatal error. It suggests that nothing could have been done to avoid the crash. It gives the idea that what happened was beyond the driver’s control.
This is total nonsense. Every automobile driver has complete command of his vehicle. If it is in a collision, it is very probably his fault. This applies even when another motorist loses control of his vehicle and careers toward another. The driver of that other vehicle probably has the opportunity to recognize the danger and take avoiding action. Any wise motorist will slow down at intersections with traffic lights. There is always a strong chance that an idiot will ignore a stop light and collide with him.
It would be good if all the awful road behavior here could be blamed on young drivers. With their drifting and drag racing, they are clearly a menace. But culprits are of all ages, expats as well as Saudis.
And it is not simply the manner in which people drive. The upkeep of vehicles is also of concern. Despite established inspection regulations, vehicles can be seen every day which should not be on the road. Trucks are a particular problem. Overloaded, badly maintained and driven aggressively, they are a serious threat to other road users. The truck owners want to avoid the expense of proper servicing.
The Kingdom has a set of road traffic regulations as good as any country. Clearly the police could be doing a better job of enforcing them. Yet too often, when traffic cops do their duty, it is seen as an outrage. Look at the fuss over the Saher cameras. Not enough motorists are being charged with dangerous driving offenses.
This all boils down to short-sighted, even selfish behavior by far too many motorists. Common sense alone ought to dictate that driving sensibly is in everybody’s interests. There is no appointment so important that someone dies trying to get to it. If a driver has his wife and kids aboard, it is their lives as well as his that he endangers by driving like a lunatic.
Consideration for other road users, defensive driving with constant appreciation of road conditions all help avoid mistakes. None of this is possible if a driver is yelling into a phone pressed to his ear. When that vehicle smashes because of his lack of attention to the road, no way is it an accident. It is rather an act of dumb stupidity. More than that, it is actually criminal behavior. As such the driver should always be prosecuted.