Beyond the reach of Saher

Abdul Aziz Al-Dukair

Al-Riyadh newspaper 

A news item carried by the London ‘Sun’ last week reported that local authorities in Britain have decided to remove nearly half of the traffic enforcement cameras from major roads in the country. This move was taken due to spending cuts and confidence measures on motorists to observe the law. 

A number of local authorities in Britain had taken this decision following a drop in accidents taking place on the locality’s major roads. However, a section of the British people wants the traffic monitoring cameras to remain in place as they are often helpful in solving other crimes. Monitoring cameras are accepted as legal evidence against the offenders in the UK. 

Claire Armstrong, a British activist, launched a campaign called “Safe speeding”. She was among those who totally rejected any kind of road monitoring since its implementation sent a wrong message that drivers are inherently in violation of the traffic laws. 

When the Kingdom implemented the automatic traffic monitoring system (Saher), I read several reports stating that it would be more beneficial inside major cities in preventing accidents than on highways.

There was a series of fatal accidents on highways involving women teachers who traveled in vans in various regions that suggested that the Saher monitoring system be everywhere. Some blamed the system for not doing enough. 

These accidents however were not caused due to speeding but by other factors such as bad tires or faulty brakes on the vehicles. Even if the driver observes the allowed speed limit, a tragedy can result because of vehicle malfunction or due to loss of steering control. There were also accidents caused by carelessness or other faults in the behavior of motorists.

Additionally, defective road designs or weather conditions such as rain or fog contributed to the problem. All these do not come under the capability of the Saher monitoring and the system can do nothing more with this.