Manama: Six members of a Saudi family were killed and two critically injured in a tragic collision between their car and a lorry.
The accident occurred shortly before 8pm on Saturday in Al Eis region in northwestern Saudi Arabia, an area where residents said tragic traffic collisions often happened.
A spokesperson for the Red Crescent in the area said that the operations room had received numerous calls from Saudi nationals reporting the accident.
Khalid Al Sahli said that three ambulances were dispatched to the site where rescuers found six people dead. They sent the two critically injured victims to the general hospital in Al Eis, he added.
In an accident in the same area last week, civil defence officers were able to deal with a truck loaded with bitumen that flipped on its side.
Media spokesperson Khalid Al Juhani said that the fire brigade, a rescue team, a foam team and an ambulance were dispatched to the site where they dealt with the situation.
The driver who was injured in the accident was taken to the hospital.
Four months ago, one student was killed and two others were injured in the area when the minivan transporting them also flipped.
Saudi Arabia has one of the highest traffic accident rates in the Arab world and the authorities have often launched campaigns to reduce the alarming figures and restore a better driving culture.
However, the campaigns had been slow in yielding the expected results and the authorities eventually launched Al Saher system to check chaotic driving and monitor violations that included mainly jumping red lights.
Under the system used mainly in large cities, drivers are immediately fined for breaking regulations. The penalties are increased if the fines are not paid within a specific period of time.
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 allowed and that all fines had to be paid. In their attempt to avoid the traffic monitoring lenses, some drivers used ruses to conceal their car licence plates, making their identification impossible.
Statistics issued by the health ministry in March showed that a car accident happened every second and 17 people were being killed in crashes every day on average in the kingdom.
According to the figures, 598,300 accidents occurred in 2012, an average of 1,614 a day and of 67 an hour.
The figures marked 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 to reach 498,200 accidents with an average of 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 the 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 sad tally. The capital Riyadh leads in the number of accidents with 28 per cent of the country’s traffic crashes.
