Dubai: Six members of a family were killed in a traffic accident on Friday while returning from Riyadh to Jizan after spending the school holidays.

The family consisted of a husband, wife, and their four children. The cause of the accident is yet to be determined, but it is believed to have been caused by speeding or driver’s error.

Colonel Dr. Zuhair bin Abdul Rahman Sharaf, Director of Laws and Regulations in the Medina Traffic Department, described traffic accidents as ‘street terrorism, no less dangerous than organised crime’.

He noted that Saudi Arabia ranks first in the world in the number of road accidents, with a death rate of 17 people a day, equivalent to one death every 40 minutes, according to Al Arabiya.

He added that the number of injured has exceeded 68,000 annually, and material losses have exceeded SR13 billion per year.

Furthermore, Colonel Sharaf revealed that the number of accident victims in Saudi Arabia in the past two decades has exceeded 86,000, which is more than the number of victims of various wars combined. He emphasized that the number of road accident victims is on the rise.

Sharaf made these remarks during a lecture he delivered at the Islamic University as part of the 29th Gulf Traffic Week.