RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti Abdulaziz al-Shaikh has reiterated his fatwa against drivers who jump red traffic light, Al Arabiya News Channel has reported.

The Grand Mufti, who is the most senior religious authority in Saudi Arabia, said that such a violation of traffic law is a “major sin”, and referred to a Quranic verse which says, “If you kill one person unjustly it is as if you killed the whole humanity, and if you saved one person it is as if you saved the whole humanity.”

This is not the first time the cleric has issued such a fatwa. In 2010, he is reported to have used a similar edict, saying the person who caused the death of another person because of such a violation is guilty of involuntary manslaughter.

Saudi Arabia has one of the highest rates of car accidents in the world with an average of 17 fatalities a day, according to a recent report in Dubai’s Gulf News.

In 2010, a report by the kingdom’s General Directorate of Traffic revealed almost a third of traffic accidents in Riyadh were due to drivers violating traffic signals.