‘Ban onlookers at accident sites’

Citizens here want the traffic authorities to issue regulations banning curious onlookers from gathering at car accident scenes, which they say causes congestion on the nation's roads.
Mut'ib Al-Ruwaili said people continue behaving this way because of the lack of stringent regulations. He said many people take videos to post on social networking sites.
Fahd Al-Atwi, however, believes that some people stop to help. "I do it. Sometimes the authorities arrive too late to help injured people. So I help them and take them in my car (to hospital)."
Col. Mamdouh Al-Anizi, spokesman for the Civil Defense Department (CDD), warned people against gathering at the scenes of car accidents because they block CDD vehicles. This is also the case with fire accidents. "We always try to educate people on the negative impact of such practices," he said.
"Especially serious is the fact that we need to promptly transport injured people to hospital. Any delay in this regard may cause loss of life," he said.
"There is another serious problem. Some people, as soon as they see an accident, simply park their car in the middle of the street. This surely stands in the way of other vehicles and causes delays."
"Another thing is that some move an injured person in the belief that they are helping them. This is wrong. If the person has a spinal injury, any wrong movement could result in serious complications," he said.
Maj. Ra'id Al-Ghabban, spokesman for Tabuk police department, said the department issues tickets to people blocking traffic at accident scenes. "These tickets can be serious. A driver may be fined, detained, or have his vehicle towed away. We always order people to move away from accident sites to allow the authorities to do their job," he said.