Crashing own car becoming more frequent in Bahrain

Manama: The pattern of traffic accidents in Bahrain is changing, an official said, pointing out that ‘own car crashes’ are becoming more frequent.

General Directorate of Traffic, Traffic Culture Director, Lt. Col Osama Mohammed Bahar noted that “own car crashes,” referring to traffic accidents involving only a single vehicle, is becoming more frequent in Bahrain.

He said that these accidents occur as the vehicle crash against public property such as against the sidewalk, roundabout or a traffic signal. Drivers being distracted by social media are the main cause of such accidents, he noted.

“The pattern of accidents is changing. Now we are observing that many of the accidents are what we call ‘own-car crashes’ with vehicles crashing against the sidewalk, a tree, a roundabout. We can reasonably conclude these are caused by drivers busy on mobile phones and not paying attention to the road,” Lt. Col Bahar was quoted as saying in a report in Interior Ministry’s Publication Al Amn.

“Everyone wants to stay connected at all times but drivers have to realize a three second glance at the phone makes one blind for 90 yards. That is the whole length of a football field and anything can happen during that time,” he added.

He explained that the social media application Snapchat has made things worse.

“This application allows users to see pictures sent by their contacts for a few seconds before they disappear. So it is imperative they see them, here lies the danger. Those few seconds can be critical,” he said.

“Investigations have revealed that people not wearing seat belts, talking on the phone, jumping red light, going through the yellow box and not stopping at yellow line are other reasons for accidents. Mobile phones are a distraction while driving. It is a visual and mental distraction,” he added.

Radio stations promoting their social media pages has also become an issue, he noted.

“We hear presenters asking people to ‘like’ a certain picture or a video on Facebook to be eligible for a prize. This is alright for radio listeners at home, but not for drivers. But these days only a small fraction of people listen to the radio at home while every driver has the radio on and is often inclined to take a look at a video or a picture, which has been posited online,” he said.