Driver ‘can’t be arrested without court order’

RIYADH: Traffic police can arrest a vehicle driver only if he is found to have violated certain traffic rules twice in a Hijri year and that too after obtaining a court order, traffic expert Musaed Al-Rabeesh has said. The traffic police do not have enough knowledge about the traffic system, and there is a lack of training in this regard, he was quoted as saying by local media on Tuesday. Calling for educating citizens and residents about traffic rules and system, he said they should also know their rights. Al-Rabeesh defined four categories of violations. The first starts from SR500 to SR900, with a fine and impounding of the vehicle; the second is fine between SR300 and SR500 and impounding of vehicle; the third starts from SR150 to SR300 without impounding the vehicle, and the fourth starts from SR100 to SR150 without impounding the vehicle. He said that the total number of traffic violations stands at 73 with nine violations allowing the impounding of a vehicle according to certain conditions. He said the violations include drunk driving, driving under the effect of tranquilizers, crossing a red light, driving in the opposite direction, dodging cars, speeding, bypassing a stop sign, overtaking in places where it’s not allowed and drifting. He said arrests can only be made through a court order if one of these violations is repeated twice in a Hijri year. “No traffic officer can arrest a driver even if he committed some of these violations, and he should notify the driver that if he commits a serious violation that threatens public safety and repeats it twice in a Hijri year, he will be arrested,” he added. He said electronic monitoring of the traffic directorate reveals whether the driver committed one of these violations more once. Al-Rabeesh said if any of the ninth mentioned violations was committed the directorate can refer the matter to the traffic court within 30 days of committing the second violation. If 30 days passed without referring the matter to court citizens can overcome the punishment. He said traffic officers have low educational levels and might not even know that bypassing a stop sign is a violation. However traffic police have a lot to do in the field which might be the cause for not having full knowledge of traffic laws. -arabnews