Jeddah, (AG/IINA) : Saudi authorities said that traffic accidents killed more than 92,000 and injured around 495,000 people in the period of 1999 to 2015, and that road crash victims occupy 32 percent of hospital beds in the country, Arab News reported.
Over the past 21 months, traffic authorities recorded more than 15,000 drifting violations by citizens and residents, and 449 cases were referred and reviewed by courts over the previous five years. A study conducted by Saudi Arabia’s Traffic Department revealed that every 10 years the number of people killed because of traffic accidents increases by an annual rate of 130 persons.
In 1999, the number of persons killed because of traffic accidents reached approximately 4,848 people, and in 2009, the number of the deceased increased to 6142 people, with an annual increase of about 5 percent. If the pace continues, the number of deaths due to traffic accidents is expected to reach 7,400 in 2019, at a daily rate of 21 persons. The number of people injured due to traffic accidents is rising by a yearly rate of 200. At this rate, in 2019 the number of injured people is expected to reach about 36,000 per year, an average of 100 injuries a day.
Official records also show that more than 500,000 accidents occur annually in the Arab world, resulting in 36,000 deaths and 400,000 injuries and disabilities, besides the tremendous economic losses.
According to WHO, injuries from traffic accidents rank 9th in the hierarchy of diseases in 1999, and will rank 3rd in 2020 in low-income countries, due to lack of necessary prevention measures.