By Roger Taylor/Doha
Why is there so much bad driving on Qatar’s roads?
Is it due to a lack of social values from poor parental upbringing, a developed aggressive attitude or a lack of proper training, testing and enforcement?
Before answering the questions, let me give you some background information about myself.
I taught in the United Kingdom after qualifying in 1985 as an instructor on all classes of wheeled vehicles: in 1987 I became a driving examiner. From 2001, I have been training drivers in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region, both on and off roads. This does not necessarily qualify me or make me an expert but it does enable me, I think, to express an informed opinion.
So back to the question of bad driving in Qatar. I have lost count of the number of times I have had to take, what I would classify, as a defensive action on Doha’s roads.
By this, I don’t mean having to brake hard or induce a harsh change of direction. I mean that I have had to adjust my speed and position, so that I don’t come into conflict with the driver who tailgates, forcefully changes direction or lane position, speeds through traffic, opens a door without looking, refuses to give way when pulling out from a side road or straight lines a roundabout.
These are, of course, only a snapshot of the common bad driving behaviours found here in Qatar.
Is poor parental upbringing a cause?
If parents demonstrate aggressive driving habits, would this reflect in a child’s perception of how, in the future, they should behave on the road? I would suggest that it would.
The child would see the people that they look up to and take the lead from in life, behaving in a manner that would be seen by him/her as fine.
Inevitably, when something happens due to the parent’s actions behind the wheel, the parent would convey verbally or by gesture that it was not them who caused the problem. It would always be conveyed as the other driver’s fault so that the parent’s embarrassment is covered up.
People, in general, don’t want to analyse or admit their own mistakes; they would rather place blame on a third party, thereby exonerating themselves in the eyes of their children.
However, what effect does this have on the way the child will think and behave in the future? I am not a child psychologist, but I am a father, and my personal feeling is this: Whatever behaviour I clarify to my children as being “OK”, either through verbal teaching or practical demonstration, is the behaviour that I would expect my children to follow. Therefore, yes, poor parental upbringing could be a cause.
Is a developed aggressive attitude a cause?
If we drive on a regular basis and are forever compensating for, and suffering, other driver’s bad behaviour, it is without doubt, going to have an effect on our attitude towards all drivers: I state “all drivers” because the natural change in attitude that takes place, is for us to place everyone in the same category.
It would be a very strong-willed and remarkable person who would be able to remain unaffected by the bad behaviour that regularly occurs on Qatar’s roads.
Once this developed aggressive attitude has taken hold, (and it is very difficult to individually, recognise it within ourselves) we start behaving in the same manner as the bad drivers do, and we will still be complaining about them as we drive.
There is also the attitude change of saying to yourself: “Everybody else does it, so why shouldn’t I?” Our answer to that question should be: “I am better than that and I will not lower myself to their level.” Yes, developed aggressive attitude could be a cause.
Does a lack of proper training, testing and enforcement contribute to bad behaviour?
Here is where my knowledge of driver training and testing comes to the fore.
My immediate response to this dilemma is: No. Bad behaviour stems from an attitude of selfishness, a total disregard for the law and the safety of others.
However, that assumes that the person committing the offences knows how to drive correctly, knows the rules, has the right attitude, and understands the importance of road safety.
If training, testing and enforcement are presented at a level where people don’t understand how to apply the correct driving strategies, then they will make up their own or follow other people’s examples, which if we think about it, is exactly what is happening here in Qatar.
So what is the solution?
What a great question, and it is one that many have tried to solve and continue to try, through various methods of engineering, education and enforcement.
However, in my opinion, and of course, I am slightly biased given my background, the engineering is very much taken care of with the road safety experts applying best practice, and this is governed and applied through years of global organisations sharing their experiences. In addition, technology has been built into the road traffic system to aid traffic flow, for example, the introduction of “smart traffic lights”.
The education and enforcement, however, are two fundamental processes that I do feel need to improve in order to make the roads safer here in Qatar: let us call that whole process “driver education”.
Driver education begins at a very young age, starting in primary schools and continuing through to higher education. This includes simple road safety subjects: how to cross the road, the dangers of using a mobile phone while driving, using seat belts, understanding traffic signs and speed limits, etc.
Parents have a massive responsibility to set good examples when transporting their children as do bus drivers, personal family drivers and taxi drivers. These people influence the behaviour of future generations.
When it comes to driving licence acquisition, there has to be a good training and testing system established with international standards, not standards from a developing country but standards from an already developed country.
Enforcement requires commitment. Qatar has some enforcement in place such as speed cameras and CCTV, but these are really just monitoring systems; it is my opinion that people are more likely to respond to visible, physical and active deterrents, such as a police officer stopping a speeding motorist or a tailgater. Motorists should respect the police but I continually see them disrespected by the speeders and violators.
To conclude, driver education comes in many different forms: media, schooling, peer group behaviour and pro-active, rather than reactive, enforcement methods.
The culture developed through good systems of education and enforcement will greatly improve road safety in Qatar.
So what are we going to do about it?

♦ Roger Taylor is defensive driving specialist.

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