Al-Madinah

The video of Saudi student Tahani Almanea in an American traffic court where she appeared in front of a judge for parking violations provided many positive pictures. One was the safety of the traffic system and the judge’s leniency, while another was the appearance of Tahani who was calm and smiling while explaining to the judge in an honest way the reason she committed these violations.

This motivated me to write to our traffic department saying that I hoped that they would be on the side of the people and at the same time enforce their authority in a way that protects the safety of the public and holds reckless drivers accountable in court and revokes their licenses. The most important thing here is the safety of people.

However, our traffic department fines people, then releases them to commit other violations which seems to indicate that their main job is collecting money from people and nothing else. They do not take into consideration the financial situation of people, many of whom cannot afford to pay traffic violation fines.

How can a person who is unemployed pay a traffic fine? Can this person take money from his father, who is already in deep debt? Yes, I am in favor of enforcing the law and of showing no leniency to the reckless, but I wish that the traffic department could see the video of the American judge, and how he dealt with Tahani, and then maybe they would learn something.

Dealing with reckless drivers is not just a matter of doubling the amount of a traffic fine. It must be done through a comprehensive traffic system that is strict and considers the safety of people to be its top priority.

Twitter: @ibrahim__naseeb