A report says:

MUSCAT — In an attempt to simplify the procedures adopted in traffic accidents, the Royal Oman Police, in cooperation with Capital Market Authority (CMA) and the insurance companies, will introduce a new system in case of minor road accidents that do not result in death, serious physical injuries or material damage to public or private property.

Aimed at avoiding traffic jams caused by minor accidents, the new system will also spare the time of road users. Any vehicle involved in minor accidents will be pulled out of the road immediately and referred to the respective insurance companies without the need for procedures at the police stations.

The new system will be introduced on an experimental basis in Muscat Governorate. The new system applies to private, commercial, government and diplomatic corps’ vehicles.

The ROP will organise intensive media campaigns on the new system, which will be introduced during June, July and August in Muscat Governorate as the first experiment.

This is a good thing to happen, and ROP deserves a pat for thinking out of the box. It is no suspense that the present post-accident procedures were a pain for motorists. Both parties involved in accidents had to wait for police to arrive at the scene of the accident, and then make a trip to the police station to get a report, and again visit Qurum yard the following day for damage inspection.

Also, the present system was a bit tough on expats wherein a non-Arabic speaker would find it very very difficult to convey his point of view to the cops in case of accidents. So chances were more that an Arabic speaker would ‘express’ better, and cops would go as per his story.

With the new system, this won’t be possible anymore. I am sure insurance companies will have staff who will be conversant in both English and Arabic. Both sides can put across their side of the story deftly.

But the above report says the new system is applicable only in case of “minor accidents”. But, then, how do the parties involved in accidents classify the nature of the accident? It’s quite tricky since the perception of “minor” differs from person to person.

Also, what will happen to the mishaps that occur during long holidays? Will the insurance companies have 24x7x365 operations?

This process will require a lot of fixes during the ‘trial and error’ period. Wait till June…