Bahrain is planning to more than double the number of traffic cameras by the start of next year in a nationwide crackdown on reckless drivers.

There are currently 36 cameras in use across the country, but the General Directorate of Traffic is planning to add 50 more by 2009, said a report in our sister publication, the Gulf Daily News.

Ten of the new cameras are already installed and will be switched on once roadworks are completed, Traffic Culture director Major Moosa Al Dossari told the GDN.

Police will also target busy junctions and accident black spots.

The General Directorate of Traffic hopes the cameras will encourage drivers to be more careful - in the process reducing the number of accidents on the nation's streets and highways.

Existing cameras have more than halved the number of accidents on roads where they have been installed, according to traffic culture director Major Moosa Al Dossari.

However, he said the new cameras would not only be deployed on busy highways with higher speed limits but also in residential areas.

"We are also going to focus on streets leading to residential areas because statistics show that a huge number of fatal accidents happens there compared with highways," he explained.

Some of the 50 fixed and mobile cameras will be located in police cars and officers will be able to print out instant photographs showing offenders.

"This quick evidence means the violator cannot lie," said Major Al Dossari.

"There are some cars already provided with these cameras and we are going to put into use more."

Other mobile cameras will be installed on problem roads around the country, but their positions will change according to latest accident figures.

However, Major Al Dossari denied claims from sections of the community that cameras actually cause more accidents than they prevent, as people brake to avoid being caught breaking the law.

"If you are driving within the speed limit no accidents will occur," he said.

"However, if you are driving beyond the speed limit and encounter the camera, fear of being caught may cause confusion and lead to an accident."

He hoped the new cameras would be particularly useful in reducing the number of accidents in the densely populated Central Governorate, which has the country's worst accident figures.

"There were 507 accidents reported in the Central Governorate alone in 2007," he said.

"Fourteen were fatal, 66 had severe injuries and 427 minor injuries."

In fact, Central Municipal Council chairman Abulrahman Al Hassan said he welcomed the idea and revealed that people in the area had been calling for action to tackle the high accident rate for years.

He said he had actually requested more traffic cameras on the governorate's main roads and had already picked out the best locations.

"I asked the General Directorate of Traffic to install cameras because there is carelessness from truck and car drivers, who jump red lights and cause accidents," said Al Hassan.

"I asked for cameras on traffic lights outside Bahrain Gas, in A'ali, at the main entrance to Sitra and other roads that encounter accidents every day.

"The Traffic Directorate was very co-operative and has already placed a camera on the traffic light at the Sanad junction, which I am sure will help ease traffic." - TradeArabia News Service