Mahmoud Ahmad
Let me begin here with a poser that ends with a rhetorical question, to which all would agree with the answer I have provided. Let us assume here that two people appear before a judge in court over an issue or a disagreement, and both are seeking justice. Let us also assume that the defendant in this case is an expatriate who does not speak the language here. Let’s say that the judge here then listens only to the man who speaks his language while not listening to the other party because the defendant does not speak it. The judge then issues a decision and asks the defendant to sign off on the court’s decision, which is written in the language that the defendant does not speak or understand. Are we going to call this justice? I don't think so.
The example cited above, however, is representative of the Najm services that assess the damage to cars at the accident scene while pinning the percentage of blame to the involved parties. The traffic department relies a lot on their report that apportions the blame and indicates how the accident happened and whose fault it was in order to facilitate insurance claims and repairs.
Believe you me, I’m not trying to fault the service — which is a handy one to support the traffic police who have already been burdened with the growing traffic as cities in the Kingdom have developed or are developing fast. But one thing I’ll surely pinpoint is that Najm has failed to provide a means for expatriates to communicate or understand their position because they usually do not or are not proficient in the local language. This can be redressed either by hiring bilingual agents or setting up a battery of English-speaking agents who can communicate with expats from a central headquarters in the office. This 24/7 facility could be run in shifts with the least number manning the post in lean period, and the maximum during rush hour.
In this Internet age, a two-way communication could be established between the headquarters and the person on site, and this could prove helpful. I know that Najm agents take photos of the accident scene but at the same time they take statements from the parties involved in the accident in order to understand how it happened. If the statement is only from one party, it is unfair to deny the other party — invariably an expatriate — from giving their statement at least.
I can cite three examples of my expat friends who were in situations where they could not understand the agent who only spoke Arabic. An Indian friend of mine was involved in a car accident where a man hit him from behind, while he was effecting a U-turn. When the Najm agent came, he did not communicate with my friend in English, and since he knew almost nothing of Arabic, was a mere spectator in the unfolding events.
According to my friend the agent did not even bother to talk to him and did not even explain or call somebody who is bilingual among the spectators to translate. After a near total effort of ignoring my friend, the agent gave him a slip, which was again only in Arabic, and asked him to sign. My friend was shocked to find that the fault was ascribed to him instead of the man who hit him from behind.
Another incident was that of a Filipino expat, who was driving in the middle lane when a speeding car came from behind and made a sudden turn to the left. The driver, who was trying to cut in front of the Filipino, misjudged the space and hit the car’s front bumper. The driver, then instead of remaining where the accident occurred, pulled over on to the right side away from the accident. When the Najm agent came the one-way communication began. He communicated with the other party simply because the Filipino did not speak Arabic. He gave him the accident slip and asked him to sign, which he did.
Later an Arab friend explained to him that the fault pinned on him was 100 percent for the Najm agent’s report indicated that he had swerved to the left lane and hit the other man. Of course the Filipino did not know that from the beginning, and though he wanted to communicate with the agent, trying to explain how the accident occurred the agent kept ignoring him, spoke only to the other party, provided the photos and positions and left. The agent did not even ask the simplest of question, on why the party had moved the car away from the accident site?
Another example was that of an expat friend who was involved in a three cars collision. As usual they waited for Najm agent to come and as usual, since the expat friend here did not speak Arabic and was only able to communicate in English, he was ignored. The agent only communicated with the Pakistani man, the second party in the accident, who knew how to speak Arabic and the Arab who had sparked the accident. A brief shouting match ensued. My friend was a bit upset that he could not communicate with him and Najm did not have anyone who could at least speak a smattering of English. But because he could communicate with the Pakistani in a common language Urdu, he was not totally at sea as the other two cases.
English is an universal language. Any department that provides services to public should have people available to communicate in English, just like in banks, airlines and other government departments. Unfairness and injustice is a big possibility if the man who is supposed to be the judge listens to only one person while ignoring the other. Everyone has the right to explain how the accident took place.
We know in accident situations people tend to lie to avoid responsibility. They might twist facts and give false statements. Once the Najm report is issued, the traffic department immediately approves it as evidence of the case. A simple immediate remedy could be that the slip explaining the accident and the percentages of the blame should be provided in both Arabic and English. This one basic thing could prove extremely important.
Najm is a good and important public service that only needs improvement. They should know that we have a large percentage of expats living in the Kingdom while a good percentage of them do not speak Arabic and they need to be catered to. Najm's vision, according to their website, is "To provide prompt, fair and quality services and solutions for all motorists throughout KSA". They should make these words come true.
The writer can be reached at mahmad@saudigazette.com.sa
Twitter: @anajeddawi_eng
