The decision of the Traffic Department to reduce the speed limit on Doha’s congested February 22nd Street to 80km from 100km on an experimental basis since last Thursday is a step in the right direction but as a citizen told local Arabic daily Arrayah, there should have been publicity ahead of the change to alert motorists.
Most of the regular users of the street, an integral part of Qatar’s first freeway, the QR15bn Doha Expressway project launched by the Public Works Authority (Ashghal) in 2007, were caught unawares by the abrupt change. By the time they noticed the revised speed limit on sign boards, many had covered one or two speed cameras at the previous limit of 100km.
Following the model of Ashghal, which gives advance announcements through the newspapers about any road closure or diversion, the Traffic Department also should have informed the public about the lowering of the speed limit on one of Qatar’s busiest thoroughfares. Since the change in the speed limit is experimental, the department should also not ideally slap fines on motorists who did 100km, at least for the first few days.
The February 22nd /Al Amir Street Interchange, which opened to traffic in June 2010, comprises phases one and two of the project, spanning a 6km, three-lane dual carriageway between Gharrafa Interchange and Asiri Interchange. The lowering of the speed limit aims at reducing the number of road accidents on the street and ease congestion.
The traffic movement on the road will be monitored for some time and based on the assessment of the outcome, a decision will be taken whether to keep the speed limit at 80km or revert to 100km.
When an accident happens on the February 22nd Street, up to five to seven vehicles are involved on many occasions, holding up traffic for a long time. A majority of the accidents on the busy street could be attributed to motorists not leaving enough space ahead of them.
It was the severity of congestion on this street that prompted the Traffic Department to launch in September 2013 a helicopter patrol to give guidance to cops on the ground during the rush hours.
Being a part of Al Shamal Road, which links Doha to the extreme north of the country, February 22nd Street is the most preferred route of motorists coming to the capital city from the northern side and vice versa and hence one of the busiest.
Transportation expert Dr Tarek Sayed, a professor and a distinguished scholar at the University of British Columbia, had suggested to Gulf Times in July 2007, when he was the Ashghal chair at Qatar University, that introduction of tolls on select roads, more red light cameras and speed radars, better road design and limiting the maximum speed to 80km or less within Doha would help to alleviate congestion and improve safety.
He felt that a speed limit of 100km on some roads within Doha is “very high”. Travelling at high speed results in shorter decision times and longer stopping distances. In a major study he did in Canada, it was found that for each one km per hour change in the driving speed, injury and collisions increases by about 4%.
