Al Riyadh

ROADS all over our country suffer from traffic jams during rush hours because the traffic officers do not do anything to unclog the congested roads. Traffic congestion has become something routine and normal that it should happen on a daily basis and drivers seem to have got accustomed to it. Most bridges and certain exits are congested all the time even if they are on the main arteries in major cities.

Traffic congestion is one of the reason behind the chaotic situation on our roads. The problem gets worse and more dangerous during high seasons and official holidays. If we take a look at our roads and streets in Ramadan, we will see that they suffer from terrible congestions that bring traffic to a halt for hours and cause many accidents. Because of these congestions, most drivers get angry easily and are ready to get into a fight for the most trivial reason.

Gen. Othman Al-Muharraj, director of Public Security, was quoted as saying that the performance of traffic officers was unsatisfactory. He criticized the failure of officers in achieving any tangible development in terms of performance. He promised to develop the performance of traffic officers and achieve visible improvement in the traffic condition on our roads.

The Traffic Department needs to apply modern and smart technologies and send out more officers to the streets to organize traffic, ensure the smooth flow of vehicles and prevent any congestion. The obsolete methods employed by traffic officers currently to regulate traffic should be replaced with modern ones. The use of concrete barriers is an outdated solution. We need creative and innovative ideas to unclog traffic blocks. Closing off a road is not going to end or reduce congestion. We need drastic solutions that help reduce accidents, which kill over 7,000 people a year and cause injuries to over 35,000 others, 10 percent of them ending up with permanent disability.

In a nutshell, we need a new traffic department that can deal with these problems.