Please slow down!

IN A week which has seen four fatalities on the roads of Bahrain in the space of three consecutive days, a leading traffic officer has urged drivers to slow down and follow the rules of the highway.

Police and government officials are desperately trying to find a solution to the senseless loss of lives on the kingdom's roads of heartache.

Training programmes are already in place and the drive-safety message is being conveyed at every opportunity.

Captain Yousuf Jamal, head of training sessions at the Traffic Directorate, said: "We are working on the problem.

"Every week we prepare campaigns of awareness for schools and universities in particular. We are constantly talking to people directly about traffic rules, regulations and also their issues.

"But drivers have to be alert at all times and be aware of the speed they are travelling at. Speeding is a very dangerous thing and people just don't realise it.

"As the population grows in Bahrain, the number of cars grow along with the number of accidents.

"We are taking preventive measures like installing road cameras, imposing fines and making new rules ... but at the end of the day it is the driver's responsibility to abide by them and to try to drive safely with consideration for other road users."

Families and friends across the island have this week been grieving the loss of loved ones in car crashes.

Hassan Abdulkarim, 44, was killed after in a smash involving a lorry and another car near the Information Ministry in Isa Town.

Driver Mohammed Samani, 26, and his passenger Mohammed Mustafa Riffai, 25, were killed when their car flew across one of Bahrain's busiest highways next to the Regency Inter Continental Hotel after clipping the central reservation.

And, Ali Mirza Hussain, 26, died of head injuries after jumping from a Land Rover after it careered out of control when a tyre burst in Karanah on the Shaikh Khalifa Highway.

According to the latest statistics available the number of road accidents has more than doubled in five years with fatal accidents rising by 15.87 per cent. A traffic accident was reported every 8.8 minutes in 2006.

There were 59,522 incidents of which more than 2,000 resulted in injuries to drivers or passengers. Eighty-seven people were killed in 73 of those accidents.