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Saudi policemen check permits in a car on the road to Mecca.

The number of traffic offenses in the holy city of Makkah dropped by 21 percent to 608,804 cases in the first seven months of the Islamic calendar, local media said quoting a senior traffic officer.

Head of Makkah Police Traffic Col. Sulaiman Al-Jumai said that traffic offenses in Makkah are expected to drop a further 30 percent by the second half of the current year.

Traffic offenses through the first half of the year varied as follows: November 36,242 cases, December (49,850), January (92,386), February (97,747), March (96,345), April (116,298), and May (120,936) according to Al-Jumai.

Col. Al-Jumai, who was briefing members of the board of directors of the Makkah chamber of commerce and industry about the innovative technology being used at the Traffic Department to curb traffic offenses, informed that a computer program links the GPS (global positioning system) to the accident estimation unit at the Traffic Police to determine the location of the accident and issue material and financial damage estimates, accordingly.

Spokesman of the Makkah Traffic Police Capt Ali Al-Zahrani said that any traffic violation which endangered the lives of road users (motorists or pedestrians) was considered an offense. He called for strict observance of traffic regulations in order to maintain safety on the Kingdom’s roads.

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