Manama: Police in the Saudi capital Riyadh have impounded 78 cars for skidding at high speed, locally known as “tafhit”.
The campaign launched by the police to curb the growing phenomenon also resulted in the detention of 20 drivers and 93 young men who were watching the dangerous speed slalom in various areas in the city, local Arabic daily Al Riyadh reported on Wednesday.
“Several police patrols were involved in the campaign to ensure the full application of the law,” Abdul Aziz Abu Humaid, the head of Riyadh traffic, said.
“Drivers were arrested and spectators were held until their parents were summoned and pledges were signed,” he said.
The police found that some of the cars used in the shows had been reported as stolen.
Young Saudis have given a new lethal meaning to extreme sports by organising high speed drifting in open areas where hundreds of people converge to watch the latest prowess by reckless drivers as they careen down roads or swerve back and forth.
Despite massive media and mosque campaigns and even though several bystanders and spectators were killed when drivers lost control of their speeding vehicles, the craze for the show, glamorised as a cool and virile activity, has not abated.
The subculture has reached new levels following the posting of a video clip showing three young Saudis, totally oblivious to danger, lean out of a speeding car and “skate” along the tarmac on a busy road.
