Police issue warning over crash videos
Posting accident videos or photos online might cause grief to the victim’s family, says ROP
MUSCAT: Two families are suffering today; one prays for the recovery of a woman fighting for her life, another is grieving for the death of their loved one in the road smash which unites both victims.
It is an all too familiar story. Oman is, sadly, no stranger to road tragedy, but it is one which has sparked a debate, and a warning from police, after CCTV footage of the moment of collision was uploaded to social media and shared widely online. The video footage was leaked from cameras of a fuel station capturing the intensity of the accident. However, shortly after it surfaced on a number of social media groups, it drew fire for being too graphic. by the public prosecution,” he said, adding, “this is a punishable crime; the person who recorded the video can be punished for his individual act in case the victim’s family decides to complain to the public prosecutor”.
The ROP source also said the punishment would depend on the level of harm caused by sharing such content.
In this case, Times of Oman has decided to publish only a screen shot of the moments leading up to the crash, and has not carried the video on any of its platforms out of respect for the families.
Talking about the accident, an ROP official said an Omani woman, who was driving from the Darsait traffic light towards the Muttrah port, lost control of her vehicle in Al Zahiya area near a petrol station, hitting into a flag pole, and then veering off the road and crashing into a car coming from the opposite direction.
The Omani man who was driving the other car was killed on the spot, and the woman is battling for her life at the hospital, the ROP official said.