Traffic Department chief Maj. Gen. Fahd Al-Bishr yesterday warned traffic violators that they risk losing their driving licenses if they continue to break traffic laws.
Al-Bishr said the department would implement a points system for traffic violations once an automatic registering network is in place. He denied suggestions that the department has plans to cut down traffic fines.
According to the system, a driver’s license will be withdrawn for three months if he accumulates 18 demerit points in a single year. “If he drives during that period, he will be fined SR900 and jailed for a week,” the department said.
If he accumulates another 18 points in the same year, his license will be taken away for six months. He will be fined SR1,800 and jailed for two weeks if he drives during the period. For a third accumulation, the license will be withdrawn for a year and those who drive then will be fined SR3,600 and jailed for three weeks. If there is a fourth accumulation of 18 points and a person drives, his license will be completely withdrawn and he will be fined SR7,200 and jailed for four weeks.
Points are determined in accordance with the seriousness of the violation. Six points will be given for joyriding, violating the rules of overtaking, driving the wrong way, driving while intoxicated, running a red light, failing to stop after a traffic officer’s order, failing to stop at a stop sign, speeding and failing to have an MVPI check.
Drivers will get four points if they violate the priority rule while crossing bridges, tunnels and railroads and if the brakes on their cars are not working properly. Two points will be given for not slowing down or stopping at traffic checkpoints, for driving a truck with its tailgate down or if load is carried in a way that sticks out beyond the limits of the body, for carrying more than the specified number of passengers, for violating specified standards and weights, for driving at night or in fog without lights, for violating the rule for using high beams, for driving into a military parade, for stopping on sidewalks or pedestrian walkways, for failing to give priority to pedestrians and for violating priority signals.
Ahead of implementing the much-talked-about point system, the department wants to set up speed cameras across the Kingdom. Contracts worth SR2 billion will be signed with three companies to import, install, operate and maintain these cameras.
“The new traffic monitoring system will come into effect early next year,” Al-Bishr said. A six-month-long awareness campaign will be carried out before introducing the system, which aims at cutting down road accidents in the country.
During the last five years, traffic departments have registered more than 1.36 million accidents that caused the deaths of 21,900 people and injured 122,600 others. Every minute at least 11 traffic violations take place on the Kingdom’s roads. Annual material losses caused by road accidents are estimated at SR21 billion.
