Qualitative Results

4.1. Introduction
The present chapter is dedicated to the analysis of qualitative findings received from interviews dedicated to studying the high-risk driving behaviours in Saudi Arabia and the effectiveness of road safety campaigns conducted in the state to manage the problem. The research aim of this study was to understand how road safety campaigns may be employed in Saudi Arabia for modifying the high-risk behaviour of young road users for the sake of reducing the costs and overall impact of road traffic accidents in the KSA. The key research objectives formulated for this study included:
1. To evaluate best RSC practices worldwide (with specific reference to Australian RSCs) so as to identify their success factors
2. To identify key features of vulnerable, high-risk driver categories in the KSA
3. To determine changes needed for Saudi RSCs to specifically address risk-taking groups of drivers and reduce RTAs and mortality on the roads.
Since the first objective was accomplished by means of analysing a set of case studies of best worldwide practices on RSCs in Australia and other countries, and the second objective is targeted more specifically in the quantitative findings’ analysis, the present chapter focuses on the third objective of this research. Qualitative analysis of interviews with representatives of various authorities related to road traffic regulations, policy-making, and campaign design will show how the Saudi RSCs are evaluated at present, what gaps and pitfalls are detected in them by authorities directly related to road traffic safety control, and what changes may be introduced to make RSCs in Saudi Arabia more effective and relevant for increasing safety and compliance with road safety regulations on the Saudi roads.
4.2. Socio-Demographic Characteristics of Participants
Interviews were conducted with 37 representatives of different road safety organizations in the KSA including the traffic police departments of Riyadh, Jeddah, and Taif – see dates of interviews in Appendix X. Topics covered in the interviews in this part of research included past and present public awareness campaigns, assessment of road safety standards in Saudi Arabia, and proposal of personal insights into what can be done to improve responsibility of drivers on the Kingdom’s roads. Eleven respondents of the whole sample related to this field of road safety representing the Traffic Patrol Division of Riyadh City Center, Traffic Violations Investigation Committee in Riyadh Traffic Department, Driving License Division, Safety Division in the Jeddah Traffic Department, Traffic Patrol Division, and Car Accident Investigation (Taif).
The sample also included four campaign policy makers, with a more clear focus on making the road safety message more persuasive and addressing specific target groups by campaigns; these respondents were invited for participation from the Traffic Safety Section, Awareness and Media Sections in the Department of Public Relations and Media. The theory of road safety in terms of human behavior change was illuminated by academicians from the Taif Traffic Department, King Saud University (Riyadh), King Fahad Security College (Riyadh), and the National Traffic Committee. Creative agencies are the prime source of road safety campaigns, so their representatives were interviewed regarding the creative component of public awareness campaigns such as involving celebrities, religious and political leaders, including persuasive and frightening images of blood and death, etc.
Representatives of the National Traffic Safety Committee (NTSC) were included into the sample as well. They were invited from the Saudi National Radio, Highway Patrol Department, and the National Traffic Safety Committee itself. The sample was complemented by three representatives of the national traffic safety personnel and traffic patrol officers to offer a variety of perspectives for assessing the state of road safety standards and compliance among road users in the KSA. The names of all respondents were coded for the reasons of confidentiality in reporting research results, and the codes designed for different respondents comply with the agencies they represent for convenience of results’ interpretation. “A” stands for academicians, “CA” for creative agency representatives, “TPAJ”, “TPAR”, and “TPAT” – for traffic police administration representatives from Taif, Riyadh, and Jeddah, while “NTSC” stood for the National Traffic Safety Committee representatives. “CPM” was used as a code for policy-makers, “TSP” – for traffic safety personnel, and TP (TPJ, TPR, and TPT) – for traffic patrol officers of Riyadh, Taif, and Jeddah.

4.3. Leximancer Analysis
All interviews with representatives of traffic safety department, academia, creative agencies, and traffic safety personnel on the roads were recorded verbatim and uploaded in the Leximancer software – an automatic tool of qualitative data analysis. As a result data analysis with Leximancer, the following concept map emerged to illustrate the key themes raised in the interviews and interconnectedness of themes and concepts within those interviews – see Figure 1.
As one can see from the concept map derived from Leximancer analysis of interviews with 27 respondents who took part in this study, four major themes arise as most significant ones, and they unite the largest number of concepts within their field. The first theme identified through Leximancer analysis may generally be referred to as ‘campaigns’, and other concepts falling within this theme include ‘effective,’ ‘road,’ ‘safety,’ and ‘target.’ This theme may be referred to as a general overview of existing Saudi campaigns and evaluation of their efficiency and relationship to road safety. One single concept is directly connected with this theme but stands out as a separate sphere – ‘impact.’ Hence, the theme is defined as the evaluation of road safety campaigns’ effectiveness, their impact on road safety, and effect on the target groups of road users.
Figure 1 Concept Map – Leximancer Analysis

The second theme is centred on the concept of ‘traffic’ and includes such concepts as ‘people,’ ‘department,’ ‘security,’ ‘speeding,’ and ‘accidents.’ Analysis of these concepts and their relationship may help define this theme as the evaluation of the role that current road safety departments and their measures play in the prevention of accidents and speeding on the Saudi roads. This theme is also very closely connected with a smaller subtheme including only three concepts that partly overlap with it: ‘speeding,’ ‘during,’ and ‘driving.’ Hence, it is logical to unite these two themes and to analyse them in a unity, as a theme of the role played by traffic police, officers, and other road safety authorities such as NTSC, research institutions, etc., in the prevention of accidents, maintenance of road security, and control of speeding during driving.
The third theme relates specifically to the channels through which road safety campaigns reach their target audience. This theme is centred on the concepts of ‘media,’ ‘channels,’ and ‘message.’ Therefore, this theme includes the discussion of respondents’ opinions about the ways in which road safety campaigns are structured in terms of messages they deliver, and channels they use to reach out to their target audience, as well as the efficiency of that outreach. To the right from this theme, one may see a small subtheme directly related only to this theme of campaigns’ messages and channels, and unrelated to any other themes from the dataset – it includes the concepts of ‘significant’ and ‘programs.’ Therefore, the present theme also includes the discussion of channels, media, and programs that are used now and may be used for improved outreach to the target audience.
The final theme arising from Leximancer analysis at this stage contains the concepts of ‘young,’ ‘awareness,’ ‘society,’ ‘role,’ ‘public,’ ‘authority,’ ‘order,’ and ‘security.’ Therefore, it is logical to suggest that this theme is directly related to the ways of improving order and security on the roads through enhancement of awareness among young drivers in particular, and the overall Saudi public/society in general. The present theme is closely linked with the assessment of improvement measures, both in terms of road safety campaigns and in terms of road safety regulations, since both aspects are primarily concerned with the increase of awareness. Hence, this theme serves as a section of recommendations for improvement overall.
To verify the findings from the concept map and to add details to the identified themes, the concept list was also analysed to identify the most frequently used words and terms. To narrow down the scope of interest, terms only with over 15% of relevance were used in this study. The list of the most meaningful terms is thus as follows – see Figure 2. As one can see from the concept list, the concepts of ‘traffic,’ ‘campaign,’ and ‘campaigns’ took the lead in the list of most commonly used words. Hence, the theme of RSCs’ evaluation is the primary one in this Leximancer analysis. Second comes the set of concepts like ‘safety,’ ‘awareness,’ ‘message,’ and ‘media,’ which refer to two themes raised in the concept map – awareness as a way of improving safety on the roads, and the evaluation of messages’ and media’s effectiveness in reaching the target public with information on road safety.
Figure 2 Concept List from Leximancer Analysis

Among the following concepts, such ones as ‘impact,’ ‘example,’ ‘programs,’ and ‘regulations’ stand out as significant, which coincides with the theme of road safety authorities’ measures and regulation enforcement as a way of producing an impact on road safety improvement. Hence, all four themes have been reflected in the concept list similarly to the concept map, and the list of themes discussed in this chapter, in compliance with the identified keyword density and concept distribution, is as follows:
1. Overview of existing Saudi RSCs and evaluation of their significance and impact on road safety and drivers’ behaviours on the Saudi roads
2. Analysis of channels, messages, and programs involved in increasing road safety in Saudi Arabia, as well as evaluation of efficiency of their outreach and design
3. Present-day role of road traffic authorities and institutions in maintenance of road safety and control over speeding
4. Raising awareness of general Saudi public, and young Saudi public in particular, as a way of security and order’s maintenance on the roads; evaluation of the role of road safety authorities in the promotion and implementation of those improvements

4.3.1. Saudi RSCs and Their Efficiency
The first theme revealed in Leximancer analysis was the spectrum of Saudi RSCs already held in the country, and evaluation of their efficiency. The respondents enumerated RSCs that were already implemented in the KSA, and were asked to evaluate their impact on the Saudi population. Reasons for campaigns’ success and failure were also discussed. Further on, respondents spoke about the pitfalls in RSC design and implementation stemming from assessment of RSCs’ impact, and indicated the contribution that RSCs made to the increase of public awareness about road safety standards, regulations, and risks of reckless behaviour on the roads.

4.3.1.1. RSCs in Saudi Arabia
Respondents named a range of RSCs that were held in the KSA, including the Gulf Week of Traffic, the Arabian Week of Traffic, Traffic Crackdowns (SPT1), Your Safety Is Your Target (CPM4), It’s Time to Know (CA1), In Order Not to Lose Soul (CPM4, TPAJ3), Take Reasons (CPM4), Week of Traffic (SPR1, CPM2, TPAR2), Salamaty (CA1, CA2, CPM2, SPJ1, TPAR5), Your Safety Is in Your Hands (CA1), and Enough (CA2, CPM4, TPAR2, TPAR2). Each of these campaigns was received with varied response from the Saudi population, with some of them being complete failures and others – leaving a trace in the Saudi culture of road use. The most successful campaigns, according to the respondents’ opinions, were the Your Safety Is in Your Hands campaign (CA1), the Week of Traffic (SPR1), and It Is Time to Know (CA1), while the most effective campaign of all times was considered to be the Enough campaign.
The secret of success of the Your Safety Is in Your Hands campaign was identified by CA1 as follows, “the traffic aspect…is composed of three parts, electronic safety, safety security, and traffic safety…The idea is that it is a package in which three things are distributed and a present is given to the child. What is good at project is that it is not only the road of traveling but also the commercial centres and summer carnivals.” Hence, as one can see from the estimate, this campaign succeeded because of the universal outreach to the public in a variety of places, which guaranteed a more universal coverage of wider categories of population. Not only drivers but their friends and family members were targeted by this campaign, which ensured the effectiveness of outreach and a strong rapport from the Saudi public.
The Week of Traffic (2012; 2013) was also assessed as a very efficient method of raising awareness of Saudi drivers; its efficiency was evaluated as high by SPR1 who admitted that the campaign accomplished the role of “increasing communication between traffic policemen and users of the road, whoever is a vehicle driver or a pedestrian.” This way, the major strength of the Week of Traffic was in inter-agency cooperation and establishment of a stronger partnership between road safety professionals and road users. CPM2 and TPAR2 also supported the opinion about inter-agency cooperation that the Week of Traffic introduced, by saying that it united the Secretariat-General of the Gulf Countries, Cooperation Council, and other road safety-related authorities in the planning and implementation efforts. Furthermore, the Week of Traffic proved successful in its implementation in a neighbouring state of Qatar; its retrospective evaluation showed its exceptional efficiency throughout the whole life cycle of the RSC, starting from pre-planning and ending with the post-implementation assessment stages.
It Is Time to Know was among effective Saudi RSCs as well; CA1 assessed its impact on the Saudi population quite highly by noting the strong appeal to love of the native country used in that campaign. The respondent emphasized that this RSC managed to become such a success mainly because it involved many specialists who partnered in the design and implementation stages, adopting the science-based approach to RSCs. The most pronounced victory of this RSC was in attraction of many volunteers, especially young Saudis, at the RSC’s implementation stage, which guaranteed the outreach of this campaign’s message to the most important category of drivers – young Saudi users of vehicles.
Finally, the Enough campaign was assessed by respondents as one of the most productive and efficient RSCs implemented in the KSA ever. Its core strength was in the explicit appeal towards clarifying dangers associated with non-compliance with road safety regulations, and with the focus on educating drivers in terms of basic understanding of road safety. As pointed out by CA2 in his assessment of Enough,
“Enough campaign was distinguished with the message which usually wants to succeed. An informative campaign should design a viable and reproducible message, and these are remarks of success of any campaign. For example, Al Jazeera newspaper still has a page entitled Enough, and so streets have Enough panels, in Friday preaching speech stop committing sins, with the national team was beaten in Germany, the main sports page was called Enough. So, the word Enough became like a syndrome. I wish this idea had continued each year, Enough One, Enough Two.”
Due to the use of a variety of media channels, participation of celebrities like the national sports team, and collaboration with religious leaders who also promoted the message of ‘enough,’ the campaign became a catchy and widespread appeal to all Saudi drivers, which made it extremely effective. Nevertheless, Enough did not find many favourable estimates, with the words of CA2 juxtaposed by CPM4 who called Enough a weak and ineffective campaign because of its short duration, and SPR1 assessing it as weak because of no repeated appeal next year.
The most ineffective campaign, according to estimates of the majority of respondents, was the Salamaty campaign. TPT3 described it as a campaign on “giving pedestrians the right of road,” while TPT2 characterized it as having the following message: “Do not accelerate, your children wait for you.” CA1 explained its essence as follows: “they focused on traffic safety only and talked about more than one thing such as soundness of tyres, check your car before traveling and fasten your seat belt”. CA2 indicated that “that message was not quite effective.” In this context, respondents felt it hard to identify the reasons for Salamaty’s failure, but it appeared to have a low impact on the public despite the fact that it was repeated several times a year. This evidence suggests that though duration and regularity of RSCs matters much in determining its success with the public, there are still many additional aspects affecting campaigns’ efficiency.

4.3.1.2. Evaluation of RSCs
A specific part of interviews was dedicated to determining criteria of RSCs’ efficiency, and reasons for which they turn out ineffective in reducing the number of RTAs in Saudi Arabia. Here, the respondents voiced a variety of suggestions and causes they associated with RSCs’ low impact, based on their observations and personal experiences. For instance, A1 noted that “the style of messages is repeated” and “the style needs to be renewed and to be updated”. NTSC2 also indicated the lack of prior experience consideration, and a huge loss of human effort and money due to starting projects anew instead of pursuing established best practices: “we start every year as if it is the first time, and do not know whether the booklets were distributed or not. Schools have a shameful position towards safety, and mistakes are repeated every year”. Therefore, in the light of the discovered evidence, one has to think about more effective ways of campaigns’ success evaluation, and recommend Saudi authorities to pursue established modes of activity in case they prove effective.
In line with those estimates, NTSC1 characterized Saudi campaigns as “non-professional work”, and this idea was supported by NTSC2 who explained the failure of Saudi campaigns by being assigned to non-specialists – judicial policemen and traffic policemen. TPR4 explained that as follows, “I think that the informational campaigns are very limited. They need to be occasionally and intensively carried out in all mass media as drivers only commit with driving regulations during the campaign.” TPT3 claimed,
“they were not sufficient and they were supposed to be applied on more segments of young men and be viewed on channels attracting to young men such as sports channels or during football matches which have fans and audience.”
NTSC3 generally characterized Saudi awareness campaigns as “completely useless”, while TPAT supported that opinion by stating that “compliance of drivers does not differ before and after the campaign”.
However, not all evaluations of Saudi RSCs were negative. Some respondents reported high-quality, well-designed efforts on the design and implementation of RSCs that were a success. For instance, CPM1 indicated, “five campaigns were done on the level of the general departments of traffic. Those campaigns were based on correct and scientific basics through identifying the targeted persons by using a certain logo in order to be understood”. CPM2 went further and described the process of campaign’s design to show where the problem might have arisen, and what challenges the public awareness programs usually face on the way to implementation:
“We consider the statistical indicators and usually see causes of accidents and take them into consideration. There are themes selected in agreement with the Ministries of Interior of the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council according to committee on the level of Gulf Cooperation Council which identifies themes for two following years”
As one can see from CPM2’s account, there is a large extent of collaboration between Gulf countries on designing their awareness campaigns to reach the public with similar messages. The reason for such partnership’s importance is that citizens of Gulf countries watch similar TV channels and listen to similar radio channels, so there is a need to achieve a more universal outreach to users of common media channels across the Gulf region. CPM2 also added some details about the internal work on the campaign: “most of members are academicians and specialists in measurement and evaluation as they pay attention to the objective. Some campaigns are evaluated on three levels, after they end, and others are evaluated pre and after they start”. The present estimate indicates that in general, Saudi authorities have a highly considerate and balanced approach to designing awareness campaigns, and the problem of their implementation may lie within the practical, not theoretical field, as well as an outdated approach to designing the communicative messages, and a lack of creativity in that process.
In both cases, when assessing campaigns positively and negatively, all respondents agreed about the importance of campaigns’ evaluation. For instance, CPM2 noted in this regard, “there was more accurate mechanism by which the campaign is evaluated, pre and after the campaign. It shows what attracts the audience most, if the time of the campaign is proper or not, and whether the campaign had an effect on the audience or not”. CPM3 supported that approach to campaign evaluation and added that the most common measure of campaign’s outcome was “the clear change in the behavior of the targeted group even if it is a limited change by 10%”. Nevertheless, regarding the outcomes of campaigns in relation to specific target audience, SPJ1 was less optimistic by indicating that only a small percentage of the target populace is reached through with the road safety message, and the impact of the campaign is felt only during it and shortly after its completion, soon vanishing.

4.3.1.3. Raising Awareness as the Key Purpose of Saudi RSCs
Raising awareness was repeatedly named by study participants as the key purpose and objective of all RSCs designed and implemented in Saudi Arabia. For instance, A1 noted early in his interview that awareness was the clue to improving compliance with road safety regulations, “in order to apply a system, there should be raising awareness applied by techniques and the traffic behavior in general; thus, awareness of legislations and regulations in order to apply this concept”. Importance of awareness among various users of Saudi roads was also supported by CA2,
“We need a long-term awareness, which the government lack, that has five-year and decimal goals in order to be achieved. A specific person is responsible for that culture, and achieves it from his office in one or two months but not 5 years”.
Thus, CA2 made a significant observation regarding a lack of long-term commitment among Saudi authorities to the establishment of strong awareness about the issues of primary concern in road safety. Due to temporary appointments of senior officials, they were not eager to initiate a lengthy change in the road safety structures, which resulted only in fragmented and scattered efforts directed at awareness increase.
Much more evidence was provided in the interviews regarding the overall unwillingness of authorities to involve in lengthy programs of increasing drivers’ awareness. CA2 indicated a grave problem with governmental authorities concerned with their prestige and slogan rather than effectively delivering a message regarding road safety. Moreover, governmental entities are not as profitable as commercial authorities are, so they have little power and few resources for the slogan’s circulation among the media channels. NTSC2 noted that the elite of Saudi Arabia is a great problem regarding raising awareness, since they often violate regulations and go unpunished because they have money, and create a deteriorating cultural environment for raising road safety concerns. Funding for such programs is also quite scarce, which results in a lack of officials’ opportunity; SPJ1 clarified it as follows, “when the financial support is big, we do raising awareness programs”, which implies that in case finances are scarce, raising awareness campaigns are held more rarely, and last not long enough to build a solid culture of safe driving behavior.
NTSC2 pointed out the importance of targeting RSCs towards increase of awareness among the Saudi population by drawing attention to the integral link between awareness and social values in the Saudi society,
“Awareness is an integrative system and is part of the social values. We lack the value of respecting the other, the educational values, and the value of time. Our society does not respect time too much. The lack of social values results in the increased number of accidents. I think society lost a lot of its values because of the absence of its credibility of the executives of traffic work”.
Therefore, in case the social values and culture are diluted, the road safety culture falls under that deteriorating impact as well, depriving Saudi drivers of understanding of the need and importance of adhering to road safety regulations to avoid risks for themselves and other road users surrounding them. TPAT2 also pointed out that connection by stating, “limited understanding and cognition of the dangers, their ignorance of traffic regulations”. Thus, awareness should be increased in a joint effort of the Traffic Department and education and health departments; such a partnership may ensure that comprehensive information about all risks of recklessness during road use can reach all segments of the Saudi population, which may guarantee a strong, far-reaching impact of those efforts. One of the ways of embedding the road safety culture into the overall Saudi culture is top start from childhood, in the opinion of TPAR2, who called for the introduction of road safety education in primary schools.
Not all respondents believed in the potential impact of raising awareness on the overall road safety compliance and behaviors on the roads. CA2, for instance, still preferred to rely on fines rather than awareness by stating, “unfortunately, there is no faith in raising awareness can benefit the child, and I expect campaign of fining will succeed in ten years”. CPM4 also indicated that raising awareness is an effective deterrence method only after some drastic accidents take place, or only during the period when the campaign is taking place:
“The problem is that it is a temporary response. Once accident took place here, and someone we know attended, watched the accident and deaths. However, in ten minutes we heard about another accident and it was that person who had the accident. Thus, response is temporal at the time of the accident. Raising awareness is rejected by one’s self”.
Hence, as one can see from interview responses, the majority of respondents believed in the power of raising awareness to change Saudi drivers’ behaviors, and in the power of RSCs to initiate that awareness increase among Saudi population. However, the problem of reliance only on efforts targeting raising awareness is that awareness is usually increased only during RSCs, and reduces after they are over. A4 also observed that temporary effect by saying, “the message is good, but its impact is short and only few people felt it”, while A3 indicated the narrow focus of Saudi authorities on the emotional appeal while there are many other appeals leading to much more successful outcomes. Consequently, a larger spectrum of approaches and appeals needs to be enacted to assist Saudi authorities and road safety personnel to reach Saudi drivers and induce them to change their attitudes to road safety regulations and behaviors on the roads.
Another challenge of making the awareness-raising RSCs in Saudi Arabia effective related to financing these efforts. As noted by CA1,
“The budget is the most important thing in the campaign. The budget determined by the public security authorities is not sufficient as they have to pay a specific sum of money and have much work. As much as possible, we get down in markets and, frankly, we try to do for free. We ask fresh privates and checkpoints to distribute with us. There are other better ways, but they are expensive and we try to achieve using the available possibilities”.
Therefore, as one can see, there is a lack of budgetary resources for making well-thought and well-designed public awareness campaigns, which impedes on the overall quality of the government’s outreach to the Saudi society, especially the young generation characterized with high degrees of risk-taking behavior and recklessness on the roads.
Absence of qualified professionals who would be able to take the lead and design proper, effective RSCs is also a pronounced barrier to raising awareness in Saudi Arabia. NTSC2 explained the Saudi failure in raising awareness by a lack of professionalism in application; there is no authority in the KSA that could effectively control and adapt the traffic situation in the country. The Ministry of Transportation, being officially responsible for the traffic safety, pays little attention to problems with it. NTSC2 also emphasized that the Traffic Police Department is the authority that should apply regulations, but it virtually has no control in Riyadh, and there is no such big city anywhere in the world without public transportation control. Finally, TPAT3 noted, “the campaigns were not well chosen. This is because the campaign lasts for only a week. It is suggested that it should last for the whole year”. The opinion about short duration of raising awareness campaigns was also voiced by several other respondents (CA1, CA2, and NTSC3). Hence, all these hurdles to efficient management of road safety concerns in Saudi Arabia require urgent attention of policy-makers, and have to be eliminated to enable proper functioning of the road safety structures in the KSA.

4.3.2. Channels, Messages, and Programs for Road Safety in the KSA: Evaluation of Significance
Communication of the road safety message was identified as quite challenging in the KSA by the interview respondents. In their opinion, there was a pronounced communication gap between the Saudi public and those responsible for improving road safety. As CA1 put it,
“There is a gap between the citizen and the security men, and you can find great problems on You Tube and news. This happened in Taif in drifting violations, and there was a presentation showed to the public security under the leadership of lieutenant general ElKahtany, and they liked the idea”.
Another barrier to reaching out the Saudi drivers was pointed out by CA1 as well: “no one reads. I prefer the drawn things and the new devised ones”. Seeing this problem, Saudi authorities have decided to use of various mass media channels. At present, such media channels as cell phones, guiding panels in the streets, radio, TV, press, messages addressed to school students, and advertisements are used to attract the public’s attention to the issues of road safety (NTSC3, TPAT1). Though these methods have started to be used only recently, their overall positive effect has already been noted by specialists in media campaigns. According to A1, “media is very significant, and any campaign must use TV and read electronic newspaper. Without media efforts whether through TV, satellite channels, social media and electronic newspapers, traffic awareness campaigns cannot succeed”. That opinion was supported by TPJ2 who said that campaigns “should be published through modern mass media such as the Internet, electronic paper and YouTube” to be more effective. Similarly, TPJ3 pointed out that “the campaigns should be more broadly viewed via mass media.” This idea was further supported by TPR3 who claimed, “I see that social networking through Twitter and Facebook should be given more focus so that young men can benefit from.”
A trend towards more extensive and varied use of media channels for communicating the road safety messages resulted from research in the field of communication, and identification of the most workable models of behavior change. According to A2, this work is based on the
“theory of result correlation that focuses on the concept of reward and punishment; theory of cognitive dissonance through creating messages that stimulates the feeling of alienation at the audience; theory of change through a number of models: setting up data, attracting approach, and the model of awareness and conduct; theory of social education”.
Involvement of traffic safety authorities into social education was seen by many respondents as an efficient form of achieving behavior changes and increasing awareness. However, , A3 rejected that opinion by indicating that no well-researched behavior change theories are applied in Saudi Arabian road safety campaigns, and that their design is primarily the result of stakeholders’ personal experience.
In response to sound evidence from research about efficiency of media communications, Saudi road safety authorities have established strong collaborative links with Saudi media channels. According to CPM4, “we directed to private channels in KSA that concern the Saudi society such as MBC, Arabia, LBC, and the Future. We also directed to the things in which young men are interested such as sports channels”. CPM2 extended the list by reporting, “we use the Saudi channels such as news, cultural, informational and sports channels, then we use the other channels in order to powerfully deliver the message”. Therefore, the grasp of a wide variety of channels most frequently watched by target groups of interest ensures a much more powerful impact of road safety messages on Saudis, as research evidence suggests.
The presented quotes suggest that Saudi authorities are moving toward embracing the power and potential of innovative mass media and channels of communication that used to be not used in conservative approaches to road safety. As A1 indicated, “raising awareness means may be TV channels, newspapers, electronic papers, social networking sites, forums or on the Internet”. TV was regarded by A2 as the most important media channel in Saudi Arabia affecting university students by 51%, preparatory and high school students by 76%, and civil servants by 43%. Therefore, it stands to reason that the Saudi Arabian road safety authorities have to take more effort to increase their presence on TV, which is done in a number of ways. CPM 1 stated that mass media are chosen according to the campaign’s content, and in case enough financial resources are allocated to the campaign, more than one media channel is usually chosen. CPM 2 added that the choice of a media channel also relies on the campaign’s goals: “when the goal of the campaign addresses many segments of society, the programs are broadened so that they include more than one of the mass media”.
The reported used of new media, including forums, Web 2.0, social networking sites, etc., is also increasing, together with the growing recognition of their profound effect on the young Saudi drivers who constitute the highest-risk category of road users very hard to reach through traditional media channels. Hence, reaching them through social media has become easier and more effective nowadays, with the comprehensive, intense use of Internet and communication technologies in all life aspects. A1 stated, “the new media is effective and I call for employing it and publishing raising awareness to young men through the internet and social media since every young man now is aware of such sites”. A2 supported that opinion by revealing, “the worldwide web and the social media are the most widespread mass media”. These opinions go in line with the account of A3 who characterized young people as not reading conventional newspapers, and using their tablet PCs on daily basis, which ensures easier access of public awareness campaigns to their attention.
CA1 also recognized social media and their effect specifically on young Saudi drivers, “I think we are who suggested using social media as they were new and young men felt their effect”. CA2 talked about social media as gaining more credibility nowadays than the traditional press does, which ensures its greater impact on raising awareness. Moreover, CPM3 underlined that the use of social media makes public awareness campaigns less costly, and replacing usual campaigns with electronic ones may ensure a greater social impact with fewer expenditures. CPM4 reported that his employing organization has recently taken an active interest in using Twitter and YouTube, which is also a considerable step forward in raising awareness by means most understandable, suitable, and attractive to the young population of Saudis.
In accordance with theory of communication, Saudi experts have come to recognition of the need to involve a thorough selection of channels and design of well-thought messages for the RSCs to be efficient. The choice of media channels is however not the only step to be accomplished during the design of an effective media campaign. Among the issues repeatedly raised by respondents, the choice of target groups and framing of the message content were identified as two most important aspects of campaign’s design. In this context, CA1 stated that their campaigns unfortunately did not target any specific audience, while CPM1 and CPM4 stated that for each planned campaign, a specific population segment is selected. CPM4 clarified, “when messages are directed at Saudis, we focused on young people between 18-21 years. Family is also stressed to participate in raising awareness of people and its sons”. TPAJ3 stressed the need to target the group of young men at the age of production because a heavy social burden is created on the KSA as a result of young fathers’ death. TPAR1 stated that the major part of accidents and deaths occurs in the age group of 18-35 years old, so this segment is the most desirable target group of awareness campaigns.
Message content has also been regarded as a vital aspect of campaign design, determining its ultimate efficiency. The importance of proper message content selection should not be underestimated, as A1 emphasized:
“a group of experts should check all in terms of the aspects of intimidation, enticing and motivation…We should also use a way of motivation for pupils of primary stages as to say you will gain the approval of God, your parents and people, and use raising awareness as behavior”.
Several respondents spoke about the need to include visual and audio messages into RSCs, and to avoid images of blood, fear, and threat, since they do not produce the expected impact on drivers. CPM1 recommended emphasizing a “religious, social or psychological aspect”, and CPM3 characterized a strong media message as “effective and non-hermeneutical”.
Framing and appeal of the message were also indicated as key variables predetermining the success of any road safety campaign: A4 voiced his support for rational and emotional appeals though stating that “this is not enough, but they should be fused, diverse, and appealing for all segments of society”. A3 spoke about the mock appeal that could be effectively targeted at young people. In terms of framing, A3 stated that it is important because “positive or negative framing should rely on the targeted audience’s socio-cultural characteristics”, and A4 characterized the failing road safety awareness campaigns as “passively framed”. Overall, the recommended content of effective road safety-related messages was summarized by CPM4 as follows: “initially, you should have expressive and brief message which has meaning as people now have awareness and any bloody thing may turn into opposite, and we have children at home; thus, the message did not deliver its objective”.
Taking into account the specificity of Saudi culture and religion, interviewees also spoke profoundly about involving religious leaders and celebrities in the promotion of road safety messages. Islamic religion generally condemns risky behaviors on the road, as A1 indicated: “as we see the view of religion towards any violation, for example, violation of drifting causes harm to others and Prophet Mohamed (PBUH) said that there should be neither harm nor malice, and so the way of thought becomes positive”. However, NTSC1 was more skeptical about the effect of religious leaders by stating that their messages may reach only the older generation that is more conservative, while young men are less susceptible to religious leaders’ opinions and often even misunderstand religious practices. NTSC2 gave an example as follows:
“We used to respect and adhere to religion as a part of our behavior. Recently, adherence to religion and ethics of work has been different. For example, during Jummah prayer, people block streets to do the prayer, which is a misunderstanding of religion. I, myself, see that leaving group prayer is worthier than doing harm to others”.
In this regard, NTSC3 generally refused to acknowledge any impact that religious leaders could provide for road safety improvement, while SPJ1 and SPR1 both agreed that religious leaders are often active in the promotion of road safety messages, and they are most helpful during Friday speeches. SPR1 even reported seeing religious leaders often talking about the traffic safety problem on TV, which means that the involvement of religious personages into the fight against risky behavior on the roads is still seen as a powerful tool of impact.
Communication of awareness is specifically targeted at young Saudi drivers, since they are identified as the highest-risk driving category. A1 identified the youth driving subculture as one of the primary reasons for frequent RTAs involving young drivers. As clarified by the respondent, “experts of psychology or sociology are asked to help us decide the messages affecting this age group, young men at most, that commit violations, drifting for example. All messages of awareness concerning this violation are directed to the young men.” Therefore, it is logical to assume that there are targeted actions towards raising awareness of young Saudi drivers who are recognized as target group of the highest importance, and the need is realized for making more campaigns specifically focused on young drivers’ awareness.
One of successful efforts proving the need to diversify channels and paths of outreach towards young Saudis is the case of the It Is Time to Know campaign. As noted by CA1, it was a tremendous success because many experts, specialists, and scholars were involved in its design and implementation, attracting many volunteers among young Saudis. Thus, as soon as the successful outreach towards young Saudi drivers was identified, this campaign’s creators decided to expand it through diversification of media channels. As clarified by CA1,
“we also thought of a workshop under sponsorship of Prince Nayef, may God rest his soul, in King Saud University about continuous voluntary work sponsored by the government such as the Red Crescent in the other countries so that society can benefit from young men. We also were in field in the National Day and during beginning of new school year to make students feel the policemen’s role.”
Besides a strong impact expected from the involvement of religious leaders into the Saudi RSCs and diversification of channels by expanding their outreach, respondents pointed out the outstanding impact of including celebrities popular among Saudi youth. This method of outreach was regarded as a very efficient technique of involving young Saudis and having them accept the message about road safety. According to the estimate of CPM4, “celebrities such as Shahid Afridi are regarded as an ideal for young men”. TPAR1 supported such an estimate by indicating, “in many raising awareness campaigns, we see that an artist or a football player participates and such thing is very eye-catching”. CA1 provided a more detailed account of how the involvement of a celebrity into public awareness campaigns usually works out,
“The idea of It Is Time to Know campaign is make security men love citizen and make citizen love security men. We got a celebrity and dressed him like a security man, and since one loves this celebrity, he listens to him as there is a gap between citizen and security men. We had an idea and made a TV ad, and it is continuous up till now. We started it in summer with the player Ahmed El Fridi, we dressed him in security man and played it on the social media sites such as You Tube. Benefit was so great, as the first two weeks video watching reached 100,000. After a month, it increased 200,000”.
CPM1 also provided a similar account of the campaign’s success because of involving sports celebrities and famous people:
“the last campaign, in which I worked, had a trend to choose effective sports celebrities and they were dressed in the formal uniform in order to be more influencing. Some effective religious personages such as Sheikh Ghamdi, Al Oudah and EL Erini were chosen to give religious lectures concerning this aspect”.
The present evidence suggests that Saudis, as all other people around the world, cherish their idols and like to think that their lives are somewhat similar to those of celebrities. Hence, many celebrities become the role models for promoting appropriate behavior, e.g., healthy lifestyle, safe driving behavior, etc. This variant of persuasion is specifically useful for young Saudis who have strong preferences for celebrities like actors, singers, and sportspeople, so Saudi road safety authorities may successfully engage these celebrities into RSCs to make their impact more feasible.

4.3.3. Road Traffic Authorities and Institutions: Role in Road Safety
Since the status of road safety in the KSA was assessed as quite low by respondents, causes of such a situation were partly found in the inconsistent measures and actions of road traffic authorities and policymakers precluding complete and comprehensive implementation of awareness campaigns. One of the reasons for pitfalls of road safety programs and measures was found in the complex structure and hierarchy of authorities holding responsibility for maintaining law and order on the Saudi roads. A1 described it as follows,
“In general, the traffic system is a participation of different authorities. For example, the ministry of interior, the ministry of transportation, the ministry of education and the ministry of higher education are involved in this topic. They created the National Committee for Traffic Safety and the Traffic Safety Association in Eastern Region. The supreme council of traffic creates a successful interaction and coordination to make this factual. Thus, Secretariats Affairs, Traffic Department and Ministry of education have to share raising awareness of students as pedestrians when passing the road”.
Such a multitude of authorities responsible for implementation of road safety measures and initiatives has resulted in the overlapping and conflict of duties and roles. Ideally, those institutions were to cooperate in the creation of effective, comprehensive RSCs and other measures for improving road safety. However, in reality, these organizations lack a comprehensive program and structure for partnership, which maintains the road safety standards and culture at an unreasonably low level.
Overall, there is much partnership among institutions in the KSA dedicated to design and implementation of effective RSCs. For instance, CPM3 reported that the King Abdulaziz City for Medical Science was involved in the issue of designing the road safety campaign, while there are many other non-traffic authorities including the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Higher Education, Ministry of Islamic Affairs, and many private actors such as Aramco, SAB, and others. Moreover, CPM4 told about the partnership of the Traffic Safety Department with the Ministry of Culture and Information, while TPAR1 recognized feasible efforts of the Ministry of Education towards increasing public awareness of road safety rules, standards, and regulations. Nevertheless, even these partnerships turned out not enough to ensure a pronounced improvement of road safety culture among Saudi drivers; in this respect, TPAT1 recommended to establish proper collaboration between traffic police authorities and educational establishments so that traffic safety fundamentals are taught at school and at universities, thus affecting the target groups of young drivers most efficiently.
The Traffic Department was generally assessed as ineffective in its mission of guaranteeing road safety and maintaining compliance with road safety rules among drivers. However, the respondents pointed out many other organizations actively involved in shaping the road safety initiatives in the KSA. For instance, the Department of Public Relations and Media (the main department responsible for security and road safety awareness campaigns in the KSA) was mentioned as actively involved in that work. Its representative CPM2 indicated,
“I am directly responsible for setting up, designing and supervising comprehensive raising awareness programs whether they are internal programs directed to security or external programs directed to the populace”,
while CPM 3 noted, “we, first, coordinate with the mass media and the targeted groups whether schools or universities, then, we achieve the campaign concerning the present strategy”. CPM4 also reported making a direct contribution to the design of RSCs and road safety programs, “department of information is currently my responsibility with its both written and presence divisions in media aspects. Questions, responses and statements of TV and press interviews are prepared in addition to my other responsibilities as a magazine editor-in-chief”.
The National Traffic Safety Committee (NTSC) is another significant institution related to road safety in the KSA. Among its direct responsibilities, one should note raising awareness, design and implementation of RSCs, and public education about the risks of reckless driving. However, one of the representatives of the NTSC in this research voiced a highly unfavorable opinion about the extent to which NTSC is able to produce a real impact on the population’s awareness. NTSC2, described the activities of this organization as follows,
“Actually, all functions of the National Committee of Traffic Safety focus on 3 sides, legislative, awareness, and engineering. This committee lacks the legislative aspect, as it paid a great attention to raising awareness, and the engineering aspects, and ignored investigation concerning checking credibility of the officers”.
Obviously, this quote suggests that the NTSC is a new organization that has not yet managed to show its full potential. Moreover, the major obstacle for NTSC’s full-scale development is that all its members are volunteers, which means that they are not fully dedicated to their NTSC duties, working for about one hour per month, which is evidently insufficient for the provision of a good road safety program.
Therefore, it is still limited in its outreach, and much targeted effort is needed for it to become a leader in the field of improving the road safety culture in Saudi Arabia. NTSC2 also indicated that NTSC decisions regarding road safety are at present “unsound and inapplicable”, and the role is “merely formal”. NTSC3 voiced a less pessimistic account of NTSC’s work by stating, “our role is informational and focuses on doing research and studies”. Hence, as it comes from the assessment of NTSC by its own employees, the organization has yet not developed its full potential, and has not taken an active, multi-aspect role in the formation and implementation of road safety campaigns and policies.
Finally, the matter of concern in terms of organizations and authorities dealing with establishment, improvement, and maintenance of road safety in the KSA is the image and role of traffic police officers. Many respondents indicated a negative image of traffic police officers established among Saudi road users, which prevents them from fulfillment of their direct duties of punishing drivers for violations and educating them on road safety rules. As NTSC2 indicated, “we have a problem, and need to restore prestige of traffic policemen in field as it is very declined. Traffic policeman disregard violations in order not to be insulted”. Unfortunately, NTSC2 recognized the failure of the very system of road safety in the KSA to protect the professional image of traffic police officers, which has gradually led to their loss of respect and significance for drivers, “we presented a terrible failure which had an effect on police officers. When I go in streets, I feel imperfect and embarrassed by belonging to traffic department”. This absence of respect and trust towards traffic police officers is a very unfavorable phenomenon, since drivers should take the comments of traffic police seriously, should learn from them, and should listen to them in terms of potential risks expecting them on certain roads. In the context of neglect and disrespect, the ability of traffic police officers to affect behaviors on the roads, as well as to reduce the risks to which drivers are exposed, becomes significantly lower.
One of the reasons for which traffic police are disliked and avoided is that the overwhelming majority of drivers associated them with fines rather than assistance and education. CA2 indicated that traffic police officers are usually seen as having “a regulative and strict character”, while SPJ1 noted that “the audience sees traffic a penal and judicial authority”. NTSC2 also added that “policeman, a person holds only secondary stage, is driven away from his original work, and is qualified neither functionally nor temporally and intellectually”. Obviously, traffic police officers should punish drivers for violations, but their duties should not be limited to punitive measures; they should also be actively involved in assistance to drivers, and should promote educational materials of RSCs to raise awareness of drivers about dangers on the roads. In case the range of traffic police officers’ duties and roles is extended this way, there is a hope that attitude to them will change among Saudi drivers.

4.3.4. Recommendations for Road Safety Improvements through Increasing Awareness and Improvement of Regulations
The present theme in respondents’ interviews included the assessment of road safety standards in the KSA at present, and evaluation of reasons for which poor compliance with road safety regulations is observed nowadays. The respondents identified various causes for high incidence of RTAs, and paid particular attention to the high frequency of participation of young Saudi drivers in the RTAs, pointing out that young drivers represent the highest-risk driving category. Based on these observations, the respondents proposed some ways of improving the road safety situation through increasing awareness, improving regulations, and facilitating the technical conditions and control of Saudi roads.

4.3.4.1. Reasons for Poor Road Safety
One of the topics emerging within interview analysis was low assessment of road safety standards by a large number of respondents: the majority spoke quite pessimistically about the road safety standards and commitment to their maintenance, disregarding the intense, continuous effort from the side of the Saudi government and road traffic authorities. A1 saw the reason for such low efficiency in poor awareness about road safety among drivers: “great efforts are exerted by…specialists in KSA to consolidate the concept of traffic safety and to raise traffic awareness and harvest the results of that concept. However, traffic accidents’ rates are still increasing which requires doubling efforts exerted to limit rates, statistics, and harms of such accidents in terms of casualties, souls and public properties.” In line with that pessimistic evaluation, SPJ1 and TPAJ2 also noted the presence of many road accidents, rising number of fatalities, and increasing injury rates. Statistics of A2 also sounded very unpromising in this regard: “traffic accidents raised up to 94% during the same period…the exceeded speed represents the main cause of traffic accidents; it reached 24.64% in 2012.”
Understanding of the reasons of high RTA levels and poor road safety culture was also profound among respondents, but opinions differed in some aspects. For instance, TPAT3 blamed the weak traffic control systems and methods used in the KSA that did not integrate innovative technologies. TPAT2, in his turn, was much more critical about the technical state of roads and unsafe paving, absence of side hurdles, and inadequate road safety measures specifically in the mountain regions of Saudi roads. TPAJ2 supported that opinion about technical problems with safe roads, and called for more reconsideration of dangerous regions of Saudi roads and more attention to modernizing security equipment there.
Traffic patrol officers also provided their ideas on the causes of poor road safety rules’ compliance and high RTA rates. For instance, TPR3 claimed that “the causes are sudden turning, speeding, overrunning traffic lights, insufficient warning panels at digging workplace in particular, busy drivers by something from driving.” TPT1 spoke about the causes of RTAs as “speeding, lack of vehicle maintenance, busy drivers such as using cell phone or similar things,” while TPR2 summarized them as “non-compliance with traffic regulations.” TPR1 noted that in some cases, “the risky driving behavior of car driver and the limited means of traffic security on some roads” may become the causes of RTAs. Hence, as one can see, the major problems of road safety in the KSA were seen by the traffic patrol officers in inappropriate behaviors of drivers, insufficient technical safety of roads, and the technical flaws of cars.
A3 voiced quite a different understanding of pitfalls in the Saudi road safety. In his opinion, the road safety standards were fairly good in the country, but they were poorly implemented because of bureaucracy in the administrative circles, “I am satisfied about the level of road safety standard in KSA but I think the problem is in implementing those standards as they are usually kept on the papers and not applied in field by the practitioners or law officers for different reasons.” Among other reasons for high rates of RTAs, TPAT2 suggested the prevalent speeding behaviors causing much risk and often ending with accidents, while CPM4 blamed foreigners coming to the KSA and not knowing Saudi roads well. Insufficient control was nevertheless again recognized as a reason for poor road safety, and TPAR2 objectively observed lower rates of RTAs in regions where the automatic systems of video control, such as Saher, are installed.
As the evidence presented in this section suggests, the quality of road standards is quite poor in Saudi Arabia, possessing drawbacks and disadvantages. The study’s respondents identified a range of inconsistencies in the practical implementation of road safety, and they mostly blamed the failure of efforts’ coordination among authorities responsible for road safety in the KSA. Among causes of RTAs, many additional concerns were caused by busy drivers using cell phones (CPM3), defects in cars’ technical condition such as worn-out tyres and irregular vehicle checks (CPM4, SPJ1, TPAJ3), and speeding mentioned by many respondents – SPJ1, TPAJ1, TPAR1, TPAR2, TPAR3, and TPAR4. However, one of the most frequently cited reasons for RTAs in Saudi Arabia was the presence of a specific young sub-culture of reckless driving and ignorance towards road safety rules. It will be discussed in detail in the next subsection.
4.3.4.2. Role of Young Drivers as a High-Risk Group
One of seriously troubling observations was made by respondents regarding the prevalence of accidents involving young Saudi drivers, which suggests that they represent the key high-risk driver category in the KSA. As observed by CPM3, it is a cultural problem of a generation gap, with conservative Saudi drivers behaving diligently on the roads, and young Saudi drivers – ignoring the rules because of their disrespect to regulations and norms. CPM3 indicated, “Way of thought differed from one generation to another due to the incidents took place in societies. We are in the middle, and there is a gap between this middle and the new generation, the young men. Sometimes they like ideas we disparage.”
Indeed, many other respondents supported an opinion that the representatives of Saudi youth have a fundamentally different attitude to rules, regulations, laws, and authority, and for this reason, they often violate the established rules as a part of their young culture. TPT2 saw the problem with young drivers in the “exceeding speeding and the indifference of the young [to security]”. In connection with low compliance with road safety regulations by young Saudi drivers, TPR2 recommended that “campaigns of raising awareness for young men need to be more intensified than those of the other messages.”
NTSC2, for instance, clarified that trend as follows, “we lack the value of respecting the other, the educational values, and the value of time. Our society does not respect time too much. The lack of social values results in the increased number of accidents.” Consequently, the contemporary Saudi culture, especially that of the young Saudi population, turned out non-conducive to stringent road safety rules and standards, which resulted in the overall neglect and ignorance thereof. NTSC2 also clarified that young Saudi drivers even consider it worthy of pride to violate rules and get uncaught; Saudi youths like to provoke police officers and act aberrantly to irritate and harass workers of the traffic police department. Such behavior is falsely considered a symbol of masculinity, which causes serious cultural erosion and requires attention from not only law enforcement authorities, but also experts that can affect cultural values in the present-day Saudi population.
The importance of reckless driving in proof of masculinity among young Saudi drivers was also noticed by NTSC1 who claimed, “young people are usually careless or need to improve masculinity by doing something against the law,” agreeing with NTSC2 who noted the presence of much provocation in the present-day young driving culture. SPJ1 also found young drivers to be exceptionally risk-taking and violent on the roads, “Most traffic accidents that take place concern young men group. Besides, it is a violent group and needs intensive traffic raising awareness. We focus on the young man in order not to make the information given to him trivial and make him get bored.” Thus, the striving towards risk and agitation may push young Saudi drivers towards risks on the roads, which creates additional risks to passengers and other road users.
For the reason of young people’s major contribution to the high rates of RTAs in Saudi Arabia, respondents repeatedly noted the need to focus awareness campaigns on the young population group. However, they also pointed out that reaching this category of drivers is very challenging, mainly because of the short-term impact that RSCs usually have on them. As clarified by TPAR2, “the impact on people between 18-20 years stopped by the end of the campaign,” suggesting that young Saudi drivers are mostly negligent both to road safety rules and to RSCs. The presented opinions are thus a strong indication of the need to devise new methods of outreach for the young population category with effective RSCs, efficient messages, and through relevant channels. Other ways of road safety promotion, as seen by the interviewed respondents, are presented in the next section.

4.3.4.3. Recommendations for Road safety Promotion
Many respondents indicated the outdated nature of road safety measures and standards in the KSA; however, TPAJ1 righteously noted that road safety is not an isolated issue of road traffic police control only, and it has to be regulated by other institutions such as the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Transportation, and the NTSC for the achievement of a holistic, effective approach to improving road safety standards and compliance with them. Moreover, there are evident pitfalls of the road safety laws and regulations that proved consistently inefficient in solving the problem of high RTA rates. As confirmed by A3, “Saudi authorities have tried the law enforcement as a sole solution since 1970s even though the car accidents and death toll is in increasing trend each year.” The same opinion was confided by NTSC1 who agreed that Saudi laws are good but only on paper, while their implementation in practice is quite problematic.
These estimates suggested the ways in which road safety promotion could be accomplished in the KSA. First, the respondents stressed the need to reform the road safety culture alongside with strengthening the road safety laws, since, according to SPJ1, Saudi drivers complied with legislation on road safety only during the RSCs, while forgetting about road safety rules and safe behaviors are the end of those campaigns. TPAR 2 pointed out the need to pay closer attention to educating Saudi drivers, since the majority of RTAs occur because of absence of basic knowledge regarding behaviors on the roads, and absence of proper education on penalties for violations. The same strategy was suggested by TPAJ2 who called for serious reconsideration of fines to make them higher, which may restrain Saudi drivers from violations. The same observation was shared by TPAT1 who said, “there is negligence in applying regulations. Penalties of some traffic violations should be doubled and toughened. I notice in some of the Gulf countries the fine for breaking traffic light reaches 500SR.” Thus, one of the recommendations for improving road safety in Saudi Arabia is to make penalties higher, which may be a serious financial risk for drivers behaving recklessly on the Saudi roads.
TPT2 recommended “incorporating other institutions in the campaign, mass media in field screen, and daily distributing leaflets” for the improvement of public outreach of the road safety messages. TPR1, in his turn, saw the path to improved RSC outreach in the “accurate application of regulations all the year and intensifying watching cameras in roads and checkpoints.” TPT1 also suggested that “developing traffic campaigns can be through preachers in mosques, and providing publicities in all TV channels.” This way, the members of traffic patrol saw the successful promotion of road safety messages through a complex approach involving many agencies and channels for the delivery of road safety information.
There are many ways in which RSCs can be improved, in the opinions of respondents. One of the most evident solutions, according to SPJ1, is the proper timing of campaigns, “the problem is that the campaigns are short. We should start the campaign with the young generation at schools in order to have the next generation as disciplined”. TPAR2 supported that idea by indicating that the timing was chosen well for the majority of campaigns but their duration is too short, which makes them “not concentrated”. TPAR3 commented this issue by stating that “making strategic and timetable plan is very important”, while TPAR4 illustrated the problem by admitting: “when I have a week, I can serve nothing in 5 days only”.
In line with campaigns’ timing, they may also be made more efficient in case authorities and officials implementing them adopt a different attitude to that process. According to TPAR5, “the campaigns should be applied by traffic policemen in field, and through cell phone messages and pamphlets”. Specificity and precision of approach is the key to success, as respondents implied: CPM2 called it “continuity and persistence” and indicated that unlike European states that have been working on the achievement of feasible results for decades, Arab people are always in a hurry with the campaign result, which provides wrong outcomes. NTSC3 supported that opinion by suggesting that “each campaign needs and accurate follow up, and applying regulations on violations of laws”. Furthermore, TPJ1 suggested that “the campaign must be on a wide scale by participation of Ministry of Information for its role in traffic raising awareness of road users.”
Increased presence of RSC messages in the media was seen by A1 as a solution to the low, poor impact of RSCs observed nowadays. However, A1 at the same time also indicated that campaigns need to have “the style of sentimental and rational appeals” to make the audience care about their behavior’s implications and consequences. Other respondents also clarified that messages should be made more effective and striking, and should focus on realistic social value, and should be powerful and clear to the wide audience. Involvement of celebrities was also seen by CA1 as one of the fundamental preconditions of RSCs’ success, since it has already proven efficient in many prior RSC efforts,
“We have to be in contact with the celebrities before talking with the public security authorities, and when the public security agrees, we inform the celebrities and give them a letter concerning their pay. We have a problem with contacting celebrities and their time. In addition, some celebrities do not accept to participate at all. In general, celebrities are very good. I remember Ahmed El Freridi stayed with us for eight hours and generously did all what we asked him. I’d like to thank him very much”.
Alongside with involvement of celebrities as role models for behavior change among Saudi drivers, A2 and NTSC2 also recommended involving “specialists in sociology, psychology, education, information, traffic, and religious people should participate their formulation”. NTSC2 voiced a more finance-based idea by reporting, “there are some plans made by non-specialists, and I discussed them before and found out that they lack the scientific basics. Five years ago, KSA approved a strategy for limiting traffic accidents, and was allocated 5 million”. From this quotation, it comes that misaligned and not science-based campaigns serve as not only as an empty social effort, but also as a huge drain on the government’s financial resources.
Overall, the call for inter-agency partnership and multi-faceted involvement of specialists from different fields was most often cited by respondents as a feasible way of improving road safety measures. CPM4 expressed that need as follows, “we need a comprehensive national plan focusing on the actual defect such as speeding, overrunning traffic lights and stopping on pedestrian lines”. CPM1 stated, “there is a comprehensive national plan being made by King Abdulaziz City for Sciences and Technology to make annual rating of deaths and injuries”. NTSC1 reported that NTSC is working on the national road safety strategy now, which indicates that nationwide effort on ensuring road safety and raising awareness persists, and feasible improvements are to be expected in the near future.
Much support was voiced for the integration of road safety education into the overall Saudi educational system – TPAR5, TPAT1, and TPAT3 expressed hope for this to be accomplished to raise Saudis with a deep, comprehensive understanding of risks on the roads and consequences of risky, reckless behaviors during driving. TPAR5 even specified, “campaigns are developed by targeting all segments of society, inside homes and at work in addition to continuous programs in schools and governmental compounds”. Much consideration has also been given to the involvement of experts in the process of campaign design and implementation: A1 assessed experts’ participation as a way to “ensure the positive effectiveness on the target group in coordination between experts in traffic, psychological, educational and family aspects”. A3 also noted, “campaigns need to be well-planned by professional and experts. The target audience and utilized media must be carefully studied and selected”, while SPR1 stressed collaboration of all authorities on the campaign’s success, since the Traffic Department cannot complete these activities alone because of a lack of diversified expertise and skills of its employees. A4 also commented the issue of collaboration by seeing the improvement of road safety awareness efforts in the “participation of the state consultative council, municipal council, imams, mosques, and school in these campaigns”.
Profound support was voiced in favor of increased use of control devices, such as Saher; as CPM1 righteously admitted, “electronic means of control have an actual impact in limiting casualties and deaths over the past year”. However, NTSC1 and NTSC2 agreed that watching cameras are only a part of the integrative system and their effect cannot be separated from that of technique, awareness, and inspection. NTSC3 voiced a more pessimistic opinion about Saher stating that “speed cameras may be helpful, but not enough”. NTSC1, for instance, saw the future of road safety standards in “applying fines and following up without ignoring raising awareness”, and TPAR1 voiced an idea of supplementing awareness campaigns with seizing campaigns to increase restrictions and compliance. Hence, the attitude to Saher was largely positive, though a call for a more integrated, comprehensive, and all-encompassing approach to improving road safety rather than only fining drivers for speeding was a much more frequently voiced opinion among respondents.
Name Category Data Type Date of interview Position Code
Lieutenant Colonel Abdullah Ibn Deraan Traffic police administrative, Riyadh City Qualitative 14 Sep 2012 Head of Traffic Patrol Division of Riyadh City Centre TPAR 1
Colonel AbdulAziz Alluhaidan Traffic police administrative, Riyadh City Qualitative 15 Sep 2012 Head of Traffic Violations Investigation Committee in Riyadh Traffic Dept. TPAR 2
Colonel Ahmed Abanmi Traffic police administrative, Riyadh City Qualitative 15 Sep 2012 Head of Driving License Section in Riyadh Traffic Dept. TPAR 3
Major
Husain Alhusain Traffic police administrative, Riyadh City Qualitative 17 Sep 2012 Deputy manager of License Division in Riyadh city center.
TPAR4
Major
sultan Alotaibi Traffic police administrative, Riyadh City Qualitative 19 Sep 2012 Car accidents investigator in Riyadh Traffic Department. TPAR5
Captain Mohammad Alsersihi Traffic police administrative, Jeddah City Qualitative 23 Sep 2012 Head of Safety division in Jeddah Traffic Department TPAJ 1
Colonel Musaed Alhoshan Traffic police administrative, Jeddah City Qualitative 23 Sep 2012 Deputy Manager of Traffic Patrol division in Jeddah Traffic dept. TPAJ 2
Colonel Salman Aljemaie Traffic police administrative, Jeddah City Qualitative 23 Sep 2012 Head of Licenses Dept in Jeddah TPAJ 3
Colonel Khaled
Hajari Traffic police administrative, Taif City Qualitative 27 Sep 2012 Head of Traffic Patrol Section in Taif Traffic Department TPAT1
Colonel
Faisal Alharthi Traffic police administrative, Taif City Qualitative 29 Sep 2012 Head of car accident investigation in Taif Traffic Dept. TPAT 2
Colonel
Saeed Alharthi Traffic police administrative, Taif City Qualitative 01 Oct 2012 Head of car driving licenses section in Taif Traffic Dept. TPAT 3
Colonel Dr. Ali Alrasheedi Policy Maker Qualitative 03 Oct 2012 Head of Traffic Safety Section in General Traffic Department CPM 1
Ali Algammas Policy Maker Qualitative 04 Oct 2012 Head of Awareness Section in the Department of Public Relations and Media CPM 2
Major
Khaled Alosaimi Policy Maker Qualitative 04 Oct 2012 Awareness Section in the Department of Public Relations and Media CPM 3
Major Mohsen Alsharani Policy Maker Qualitative 05 Oct 2012 Head of Media Sec. in the Department of Public Relations and Media CPM 4
Colonel Dr Mohammad Albogami Academic Qualitative 30 Sep 2012 Head of Driving Licence Section in Taif Traffic Department A 1
Dr. Saad Alqahtani Academic Qualitative 06 Oct 2012 Faculty of Arts, King Saud University, Riyadh, KSA A 3
Lieutenant Colonel Naif Alshehri Academic Qualitative 07 Oct 2012 Head of Traffic Section, King Fahad Security College, Riyadh, KSA A4
Dr. Abdulrahman Alabdulali Academic Qualitative 07 Oct 2012 Chairman of National Traffic Committee, Riyadh, KSA A2
abdulkarim Morshad Creative Agency Qualitative 09 Oct 2012 Fann Alghalia for Advertising CA1
Taiseer Almofarreg Creative Agency Qualitative 09 Oct 2012 Executive Manger of PI communication
CA2
Saleh Almarzook National Traffic Safety Committee Qualitative 08 Oct 2012 Manager of Saudi national Radio,Ministry of Information and Culture NTSC 3
Colonel Yousef Alhadlag National Traffic Safety Committee Qualitative 10 Oct 2012 Head of Planning Division,Highway Patrol Dept. NTSC 2
Mr. Ahmad Alrashed National Traffic Safety Committee Qualitative 10 Oct 2012 National Traffic Safety Committee NTSC 1
Colonel Hisham Almarshad Traffic Safety Personnel Qualitative 11 Oct 2012 Deputy Manager of Traffic Safety Division in Riyadh Traffic Department SPR 1
Corporal Majed Alsalmi Traffic Safety Personnel Qualitative 11 Oct 2012 Department of Public Relations and Media in Jeddah Traffic Department SPJ1
Colonel Dr. Ibraheem Kahhas Traffic Safety Personnel Qualitative 15 Sep 2012 Head of Safety Division in Taif Traffic Dept. SPT 1
Personnel of Traffic Dept. in Riyadh Personnel of Traffic Dept. in Riyadh Survey Quantitative 14 Sep 2012 TPR1
Personnel of Traffic Dept. in Riyadh Personnel of Traffic Dept. in Riyadh Survey Quantitative 14 Sep 2012 TPR2
Personnel of Traffic Dept. in Riyadh Personnel of Traffic Dept. in Riyadh Survey Quantitative 14 Sep 2012 TPR3
Personnel of Traffic Dept. in Riyadh Personnel of Traffic Dept. in Riyadh Survey Quantitative 14 Sep 2012 TPR1
Personnel of Traffic Dept. in Jeddah Personnel of Traffic Dept. in Jeddah Survey Quantitative 30 Sep 2012 TPJ2
Personnel of Traffic Dept. in Jeddah Personnel of Traffic Dept. in Jeddah Survey Quantitative 30 Sep 2012 TPJ3
Personnel of Traffic Dept. in Jeddah Personnel of Traffic Dept. in Jeddah Survey Quantitative 30 Sep 2012 TPJ4
Personnel of Traffic Dept. in Taif Personnel of Traffic Dept. in Taif Survey Quantitative 13 Oct 2012 TPT1
Personnel of Traffic Dept. in Taif Personnel of Traffic Dept. in Taif Survey Quantitative 13 Oct 2012 TPT2
Personnel of Traffic Dept. in Taif Personnel of Traffic Dept. in Taif Survey Quantitative 13 Oct 2012 TPT3

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