Manama: Three out of four fatal accidents in Saudi Arabia are related to speeding, a study indicated.

“Traffic accidents resulting from speeding vehicles constitute 14.6 per cent of all accidents in the kingdom, but make up 70 per cent of the road casualties,” the study conducted by researchers from King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology said.

Improvised and planned races on open highways are among the main reasons for speeding.

However, the study by Dr Esam Hassan, Dr Khalid Mansour Al Shuaibi and Dr Yasser Abdul Hameed Al Khateeb found that 80 per cent of accidents resulting in casualties occurred in cities and only 18 per cent happened on highways.

The findings indicate that drivers often do not comply with traffic regulations and regularly jump red lights or use mobile phones while driving, the study said. Another urban issue is that drivers often stop their cars without warning or indication and cause accidents, it added.

People injured in traffic accidents suffer from a series of problems, mainly the painful memories of the tragedy, depression, anxiety and the inability to re-adjust to society, the researchers said.

Such terrible consequences clearly demonstrate the gravity of the effects of traffic accidents and the need to avoid or at least reduce them, they said.

According to the figures by the health ministry, a car accident happens every second and 17 people are killed in crashes every day on average in Saudi Arabia.

The figures released this year indicated that 598,300 accidents occurred in 2012, an average of 1,614 a day and of 67 an hour.

The accidents mark an increase of eight per cent over 2011 and 22 per cent over 2009.

In 2009, Saudi Arabia recorded 484,800 accidents, an average of 1,328 a day and 55 every hour.

The figures went up in 2010 with 498,200 accidents, averaging 1,365 a day and 57 an hour.

In 2011, there was a nine per cent increase with 544,200 accidents and averages of 1,491 a day and 62 an hour.

Around 25 per cent of accident-related deaths happened in the region of Makkah in the western part of the vast kingdom.

Makkah also tops the list in injuries with 27 per cent of the country’s tally.

The capital Riyadh leads in the number of accidents with 28 per cent of the country’s traffic crashes.

Campaigns by the authorities to bring order to the chaotic style of driving and promote a more positive traffic culture have often been resisted by unruly drivers.

A rigorous monitoring system with traffic cameras on highways to check speed and at the traffic lights in major cities to record red light jumping has succeeded in bringing down the number of accidents.

The authorities now plan to expand Saher, the monitoring cameras system, to all regions of the kingdom by 2018.

Attempts by unruly drivers to beat the system by seeking religious edicts to ban it on the grounds that it was robbing them of their savings have all been rejected by religious scholars.

Several religious figures insisted that cheating the system was not acceptable and that all fines had to be paid.

In their attempt to avoid being caught by the traffic monitoring cameras, some drivers find ways to conceal their car licence plates, making identification impossible.

However, the traffic authorities recently said that they were installing cameras with advanced technology to identify violators.

The locating plate recognition (LPR) system sensors are able to detect the numbers of the licence plates even when drivers tamper with them or cover them with paint or stickers.