Hit-and-run incident goes viral

Motorists have been urged to be extra cautious while driving in the narrow roads of old villages. This comes as surveillance video recordings, showing a driver ramming into a four-year-old girl in Diraz village in the Northern Governorate, went viral on local social media networks in the past two days. The footage stirred nationwide condemnation, as it showed no action being taken by the driver involved or passersby, to confirm if the girl was safe. As shown in the video, the driver drove off after waiting for less than a minute inside his car. However, social networking sites of the village on Wednesday identified the girl as Ruqaya and confirmed that she’s safe and posted pictures of the girl after the incident took place. It was also reported that a manhunt has been launched to nab the driver after the father lodged a complaint to Budaiya police station. The General Directorate of Traffic yesterday confirmed in a statement posted on Interior Ministry’s official sites that the driver has been arrested.

However, the lawmaker also blamed parents sending their children, unsupervised, to cold stores, supermarkets and restaurants to purchase goods and groceries, especially during the Holy Month of Ramadan.