23 accidents per hour in Riyadh

RIYADH — The Saudi capital witnesses 23 various types of accidents per hour, Red Crescent spokesman for Riyadh region Abdullah Al-Muraibid was quoted as saying by Al-Eqtisadiah Arabic daily on Saturday. A majority of these are traffic accidents, he said. Al-Muraibid said the Red Crescent responded to 16,556 moderate to serious accidents last month. Of these, 6,751 were traffic accidents and 9,805 were related to illness such as respiratory problems and heart attacks. Al-Muraibid said that Riyadh Medical Complex received 612 cases followed by Iman Hospital which received 393 cases. The rest of the cases were distributed among other hospitals and government and military medical facilities. Vehicle accidents are the highest of all types of accidents all over the Kingdom. The Kingdom loses SR20 billion every year as a result of traffic accidents, according to official data. Reckless driving causes 90 percent of these accidents and 60 percent of accidents on the roads outside the city are caused by excessive speed and failure to comply with traffic safety regulations. Some 20 people die everyday on the roads in the Kingdom and many others suffer permanent disability, according to a recent report issued by the General Directorate of Health Affairs in Riyadh. There are more than 6 million vehicles on Saudi roads, according to a recent estimate Some 20 percent of beds are occupied by traffic accident victims and 81 percent of deaths in hospitals are due to road accidents, according to records in Ministry of Health (MOH) hospitals. Over the past two decades, the Kingdom has recorded 86,000 deaths, and 611,000 injuries in traffic accidents with 7 percent resulting in permanent disabilities.