RIYADH, 2 May 2007 — In an attempt to crack down on drifting, a popular joyriding maneuver where drivers apply hand brakes at high speeds to cause their cars to enter a controlled skid, Saudi authorities in Riyadh announced yesterday that they are now categorizing any deaths that occur due to this maneuver as a criminally negligent offense.
“According to the directive, all fatalities reported from joyriding will be registered with police departments in the areas in which they happened,” Gen. Fahd Al-Bishr, director of the General Traffic Police, told Arab News. “They then are transferred to the Commission for Investigation and Public Prosecution where it is investigated and transferred to a court.”
As it was before, any death that resulted in drifting accidents was handled as an accidental death. Now the authorities have decided to increase the severity of this crime by sending these cases to the Commission for Investigation and Public Prosecution.
“The fact that these cases are now reported to the commission makes them a criminal offense,” he said, adding that authorities are hoping to make this change across the Kingdom.
The move comes as an answer to a rising trend among young Saudi men (“shababs” in Arabic) to use public streets as venues for reckless driving, mainly in competitive drifting showdowns among the drivers.
Al-Bishr said the new directive from the governor’s office in Riyadh would have a positive impact in correcting what he referred to as a “heinous act”.
Several Arabic-language websites have been set up for joyriding hobbyists to share their passion for leaving rubber on the pavement.
The joyriding phenomenon in the Kingdom was recently featured on the BBC, showing young Saudi men in fancy sports cars and bikes driving at high speeds and skidding tires through narrow streets.
Al-Bishr said that 6,296 men were busted last year for joyriding in the entire Kingdom. He said a breakdown of deaths resulting from joyriding accidents out of the total of 5,883 road deaths in the Kingdom last year was not available.
The traffic chief said the “Abu Kab” case involving the death of three boys in 2005 in a joyriding accident is still in the appeal process.
The case of Abu Kab — a nickname that in Arabic slang means “the guy with the cap” — began in late 2005 when a young Navy officer rented a Honda Accord and took four young boys with him for a joyride.
The young man performed a drifting stunt at 120 kmph that resulted in a crash and the death of his three passengers. In February a Jeddah court convicted the man of criminal negligence and sentenced him to death.
