‘Three-in-one’ violation: The motorist driving the pickup is speaking on his mobile phone, is not wearing the seat belt and is taking an illegal left turn at the Al Mana Signal in Doha. PICTURE: Jayan Orma
Traffic violations in Doha have reached alarming levels, making a mockery of the country’s laws, a survey by Gulf Times has found.
Many motorists do not wear seat belts, use mobile phones while driving and take left or U-turns from lanes meant for proceeding straight.
In order to gather evidence through a random survey, Gulf Times sent two news photographers to some of the busiest points in Doha on Thursday.
The pictures they took show eight out of 10 motorists using mobile phones while driving and at least five out of 10 not using the seat belt.
In addition, the photographer who was at the Al Mana Signal - at the intersection of C Ring and Airport roads - for 20 minutes from 2.40pm also observed that illegal left and U-turns were rampant.
The other photographer, who spent a total of about 90 minutes from 11am at three locations - the Hot Bread Bakery roundabout off C Ring Road, Umm Ghuwalina and Al Mana Signal - also found that the seat belt and mobile phone restrictions were flouted by a large number of motorists.
“Of late, the number of motorists not wearing the seat belt and using handheld mobile phone while driving has shot up dramatically,” said a long-time Qatar resident who drives around 150km daily, six days a week.
Some motorists belt up only when they spot a traffic policeman, especially when approaching roundabouts or signals.
“Once they pass the police, they simply slip the belt off, only to repeat the act when they reach the next roundabout or signal,” he said.
A road safety expert recalled getting “funny answers” from motorists when asked why they do not wear the seat belt.
“While some said the seat belt crumples their dress, others said wearing the seat belt was akin to announcing to their compatriots that they are bad at driving,” he stated.
“Their strange logic is that good drivers do not cause accidents and hence they do not require the seat belt.
“But what such motorists ignore is the fact that they could end up in an accident because of someone else’s fault and not wearing the seat belt is like choosing death over life,” the expert said.
There are many examples to show how seat belts have saved the lives of many motorists. One of the most recent is of the ‘bizarre accident’ that claimed the life of a Filipino pedestrian on Airport Road on December 18.
“The SUV hit a car, flew through the air and smashed into several parked vehicles before settling on top of another SUV. But its driver is in jail and not in hospital only because he was wearing the seat belt,” another expert said.
One of the reasons that encourages motorists not to wear the seat belt and use mobile phones while driving is the absence of black points for the offences.
“Each offence carries only a fine of QR500 but if they came with at least three or four black points each, the motorists would be careful once they are caught,” one of the experts said.
More than 4,000 road accidents causing over 600 major injuries resulting in at least 200 deaths occur in Qatar every year, according to the latest figures.
“Road traffic injuries cause one out of every eight deaths (12.5%) and are the leading killer in Qatar, causing more deaths than cancer or cardiovascular disease,” Hamad General Hospital’s Trauma, Vascular and General Surgery head and senior consultant Dr Hassan al-Thani said recently at a public forum.