By Ramesh Mathew/Staff Reporter
A combination of improved levels of awareness, stringent enforcement of laws and wider application of technology would go a long way in reducing road accidents in Qatar, a senior official of the Qatar Mobility Innovation Centre (QMIC), functioning at the Qatar Science & Technology Park (QSTP) has said.
Speaking at a session on safety management for accident prevention, Omar Bondogi, head of Sales and Business Strategy at QMIC, said annually 1.24mn lives are lost in road traffic accidents across the world and an overwhelming share of it is happening on account of reckless and distracted driving. Studies have revealed that a majority of victims is in the age group 15-29.
Because of such irresponsible and reckless driving nature, percentage-wise maximum number of road traffic deaths occur in the African and Middle East regions. “The least number of casualties are in Europe,” he said. Drunken driving is another major reason for accidents, Bondogi stated.
In 2012 there were about 421,000 accidents on the roads in the US and 660,000 were caught for using cellphones while driving. Out of the 17.10bn SMS messages, a major share of them were presumably sent while driving, he said.
While speaking on the necessity of using locally developed tools in vehicles to improve driving, the QMIC official said their increased applications would not only help the road users but the country’s traffic authorities will also benefit from them.
Highlighting the role of technology, the expert said it would not only equip driver and vehicle, but would help monitor and gauge the driver. Such regular equipping, monitoring and gauging would eventually help reduce road accidents, said Bondogi.
Proper and effective use of applications, increased regularity at which awareness programmes are held for residents and effective law enforcement at the local level would contribute to reduction in road accident rates, he added.
Bondogi speaking at the UITP meeting yesterday. PICTURE: Jayan Orma
