Saudi Gazette report

YANBU — Saudi Arabia’s Yanbu city recorded zero deaths in traffic accidents during the year 2019. The beautiful garden city, which is an industrial and port city located on the coast of the Red Sea recorded this unique achievement despite the fact that Saudi Arabia is among the countries with a high record of traffic fatalities.

The latest episode of the “Seen” program on MBC channel sheds light on Yanbu’s achievement in reaching the level of zero fatalities in traffic accidents. Ahmed Al-Shugairi, the presenter of the program, revealed that the total number of traffic deaths in the Yanbu city was 36 in 2014, and the number decreased to 21 deaths in 2015 and to 14 fatalities during the year 2016.

He drew attention to a number of measures taken by the local authorities in Yanbu to bring down traffic accidents and these included enhancing awareness among the public about traffic safety measures as well as to put an end to flawed behaviors on the part of motorists. All these efforts have been crowned with success in bringing down the fatality rates to zero level.

Al-Shugairi noted that using mobile phones while driving was one of the major reasons for accidents. He also spoke about the dangers of traffic accidents around the world, noting that there are several countries that have succeeded in reducing deaths resulting from traffic accidents such as Sweden, Norway and Singapore.

“Excessive or inappropriate speeding causes one-third of traffic accident deaths around the world,” he said while quoting a recent report issued by the World Health Organization (WHO). According to WHO, the risk of accidents increases when the driver is male and young, and road accidents remain the No. 1 cause of death among young people between the ages of 15 and 29.

The material cost of road accidents is estimated at 3 to 5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), and they lead to many families falling into poverty, the report pointed out.