Saudi Arabia is a dangerous place to drive. It’s the world’s most dangerous, according to recent media reports. Drifting, that past-time where young Saudi males drive their skidding cars into crowds is one cause, but camels, are to blame for about 97% of all accidents and fatalities that occur in the Kingdom, a new study shows. Researchers in Saudi Arabia are trying to figure out how to map roaming camel populations to alert drivers, especially at night so accidents can be avoided.
According to Yahoo!. “The World Health Organization has stated that deaths from traffic accidents in the Kingdom mostly result in the death of male adults between 16 and 36 years old, and has labelled the Kingdom’s roads to be among the most dangerous in the world, with 29 fatalities for each 100,000 road users in 2007, in comparison with 19 per 100,000 in 2002. It was estimated that more than 1 million people died or have suffered serious injuries from traffic accidents since 1970, which is more than 4 percent of the population.”
The Waze for camels?
We like to write about of course about sustainable choices of vehicles, anywhere you might roam, and of course public transport. But mapping camels and helping people avoid them is the topic of a new research project.
The Waze for camels?
“The new study was conducted by King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, and was primarily concerned with the design and publishing of a system that depends on geographic information systems to define the locations of big camel populations in order to avoid traffic accidents,” according to Yahoo.
We have a good solution for Saudi Arabia. Let more women drive cars and we bet traffic accidents will fall by half. Oh and follow the infographic below for traffic accident help.
IT IS CLEARLY THAT MR TIM DOSN’T KNOW RESPECT OF THE DRIVING IN SAUDI,, MEYBE HE NEDS TO LEARN HOW IS THE DRIVING HERE??? WE SAUDI ALWAYS USE RESPECT BUT INDIAN AND BAKISTANI PEOPLES SOMETIMES MAKE DANGEROUS,, MEYBE HE SHOULD THINK BEFORE HE WRITS LIES ABOUT SAUDI,, MANY ROADS HERE ARE SAFE
Tim’s right; this 97% statistic is complete nonsense.
What a lot of twaddle! I live in KSA, and anyone who believes it’s really the camels is deluding themselves. High speed (200km/h), no seat belts, children unrestrained climbing around cars, mobile phone use, inconsistent intersection design, tailgating at any speed, driving with no headlights at night, driving in the emergency lane, high-beam lights in heavy traffic, driving the wrong way down highways… these things are all totally normal to see. Camels… only once-in-a-while when you’re hours away from populated centres!