Manama: Traffic authorities in Saudi Arabia have arrested a driver for transporting his young son in the boot of his car.
The bizarre situation was recorded by another driver who was shocked to see the tiny legs of a boy dangling out of the boot of a car ahead of him on a major highway in the capital Riyadh.
The clip went viral, prompting the authorities to launch an investigation and eventually identify and arrest the careless father, Saudi news site Al Marsad reported on Tuesday.
The police said that he would be referred to the traffic violation authorities where he is likely to face charges of negligence and putting a person’s life at risk.
Several social media users called for stringent action against the driver, accusing him of irresponsible behaviour and utter carelessness towards his son and the people on the highway.
Comments said that traffic fines should be imposed on all drivers who fail to comply with the rules.
Saudi Arabia has one of the most dramatic traffic records in the region.
A car accident happens every second and 17 people are being killed in crashes every day on average in the vast kingdom, statistics indicate.
According to the figures by the Saudi health ministry, 598,300 accidents occurred in 2012, an average of 1,614 a day and 67 an hour.
The figures mark an increase of eight per cent over 2011 and 22 per cent over 2009.
In 2009, Saudi Arabia recorded 484,800 accidents, an average of 1,328 a day and 55 every hour. The figures went up in 2010 to 498,200 accidents with an average of 1,365 a day and 57 an hour.
In 2011, there was a nine per cent increase with 544,200 accidents and averages of 1,491 a day and 62 an hour.
Around 25 per cent of the accident-related deaths happened in the region of Makkah in the western part of the vast kingdom.
Makkah also tops the list in injuries with 27 per cent of the country’s sad tally. Riyadh leads in the number of accidents with 28 per cent of the country’s traffic crashes.
Campaigns by the authorities to bring order to chaotic driving and boost a more positive traffic culture have often been resisted by unruly and speeding drivers.
A rigorous monitoring system with traffic cameras on highways to check speed and at the traffic lights in major cities to record drivers jumping red lights succeeded in bringing down the number of accidents.
The authorities plan to expand Saher, the monitoring cameras system, to all regions of the kingdom by 2018.
Attempts by unruly drivers to beat the system by seeking religious edicts to ban it on the grounds that it was robbing them of their savings have all been rejected by religious scholars.
Several religious figures insisted that cheating the system was not allowed and that all fines had to be paid. In their attempt to avoid the traffic monitoring lenses, some drivers used ruses to conceal their car licence plates, making their identification impossible.
However, the traffic authorities have recently said that they were installing advanced technology cameras to recognise violators. The locating plate recognition (LPR) system sensors are reportedly able to detect the numbers of the licence plates even when drivers tamper with them or cover them with paint or stickers to hide them.
