Doha: The President of the Qatar Motor and Motorcycling Federation (QMMF) has called for aggressive road safety campaigns to curb the rising number of youth deaths caused by accidents on the nation’s roads.
His comments came during the Aspire4Sport which concludes today.
Nasser bin Khalifa Al Attiyah (pictured), who is also General Manager of the Losail International Circuit said: “Over the past decade the number of deaths on Qatar’s roads is increasing year-on-year.”
He added: “Last year we recorded 320 youth deaths on our roads, caused mainly by speeding or a generally crazy attitude in the desert.”
“Over 5,000 road deaths have been recorded in the past decade, with serious injuries caused by traffic accidents in the hundreds of thousands,” he explained.
Al Attiyah made a clear distinction between driving attitudes on a racetrack and on public highways, by comparing rescue efforts at the Losail Circuit with those on the road.
He noted that in Qatar’s 35 year-long history of hosting motor sporting events, no fatalities have been recorded, while road deaths continue to rise annually.
The QMMF Presdent said: “The safety standards and the equipment available on the track under the floodlights are of the highest caliber, where the rescue response is up to five minutes.”
He added: “On the roads or in the desert, rescue efforts can take up to one hour.”
THE PENINSULA
