An average of 17 people die on the roads of Saudi Arabia each day, according to a report by the General Directorate of Traffic.
The study, released to mark the start of the 26th Gulf Traffic Week on Sunday, showed there were more than 485,000 accidents in various parts of the kingdom in 2008-2009, with a total of 6,485 deaths.
The report, cited in an article by Arab News on Sunday, said that nearly a third of accidents in Riyadh were due to drivers jumping traffic lights, followed by 18 percent due to illegal u-turns.
In a report issued by the World Health Organisation, the kingdom has the highest road accident death toll in the world. The rate is put at 49 deaths for every 100,000 residents.
Separately, the paper said a study by King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology showed that if accidents continued to rise at the current rate, they would hit 4.2 million annually by 2030.
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