Crowds of people, gathering around car accidents, can be frequently seen in Saudi Arabia. Some people would lend a hand and help those who were injured while others would only stare and take pictures.
Ali Madani, an 18-year-old student, was in a car accident a week ago. He said he lost control of the wheel. His car flipped and bumped into a sidewalk.
“I’m thankful that nothing happened to me and that my friends and I were safe. What made me really angry was that people started to come to us but no one lent us a hand to help,” he said. “I started pulling out my friends from the car all by myself and made sure they were fine,” he added.
When Madani sat on the sidewalk, he heard a group of people talking about how much it would cost to fix the car and what would the driver’s father think.
“I was annoyed by the men around me as they were not helping me at all. Some of them even called their friends to come and see my damaged car,” he said. “I really didn’t want to think about all of that. I just wanted the ambulance to come and make sure everyone was ok. How much fixing the car could cost or what would my father say to me was the least of my concerns,” he added.
People who gather around accident scenes delay the work of policemen and add to their stress, said Lt. Nawaf Al-Bouq, spokesman for Jeddah police. “Gathering around the scene makes it really difficult for us to help the victims. Sometimes we would need to call more police patrols to help us clear the crowd,” he said. “The problem with people is that they never listen to us. Even when we pushed them aside, they would always come back to get a closer look,” he added.
“Another problem is about those who stop to take a look. This creates traffic jams for no reason at all,” said Al-Bouq.
Saleh Bukhary, a Saudi citizen, thinks that gathering around accident scenes is considered normal in Saudi Arabia, but does not help anyone. “You will always see dozens of people near a car accident site. Even when the driver is hurt, people stand really close to the car, looking at the victim and sometimes taking photos of him,” he said. “Leaving room for fresh air to breathe until the ambulance arrives can be the least these people can do for the victim,” he added.
“People should put themselves in the injured driver’s shoes,” said Basma Al-Nassir, a student of medicine. “I am sure no one wants to stare at him or her when they are injured in a car accident,” she said. “Other people don’t just stare, they also get out their camera phones and snap pictures and post them all over the Internet. I have one question for those people: What did you gain from this experience or from being there and doing nothing?” she wondered.
Saudi Arabia needs special forces to arrest those who gather around accident scenes, said Maha Rajab, a Saudi. “Those working for the Special Forces will teach people not to cluster around accidents. This makes it hard for police and paramedics to focus on helping the injured and not clearing the crowd,” she said. “I would also suggest awareness campaigns that would teach everyone when to help and when they are not needed around accident scenes,” she added.
“Clustering around accidents puts police at risk because they park their cars on the road which makes it difficult for the ambulance to reach the accident site quickly,” said Abdulrahman Al-Shehri, Saudi paramedic. “Other people would stop their car on the opposite side of the road and would walk to the scene. This is also dangerous because they are crossing the streets just to satisfy their curiosity,” he added.