Qatar has started implementing a very essential and important piece of legislation from yesterday, which will surely save lives and lot of pain. The decision to start recording and fining pedestrians who flout traffic rules is essentially a step in the right direction to become a modern society which has order and discipline on its roads.
It is not only the driver’s responsibility to maintain our roads safe and accident free, but also the duty of every road user to keep it incident-free. There are many a times when careless pedestrians crossing highways, where vehicles operate at very high speeds, cause avoidable and unwarranted accidents, which could turn fatal.
The new decision by the General Directorate of Traffic, under the Ministry of Interior, is a welcome move as this will make the pedestrians more aware of their responsibilities and will also bring in discipline among road users.
It is very laudable that the department has been organising many awareness programmes among various sections of residents to make them aware of the rules and regulations. This is a very important step. For many expatriates, this could be something completely new as not many countries have these rules in force. Hopefully the department will continue with their awareness drives as more and more people will benefit from the same.
Just like the ministry officials pointed out in the media reports there is a need for more walkways, zebra crossings, traffic lights and signposts in certain areas. These are getting fixed and over time, the infrastructure should be up-to-date and till then they have said the violations will not be recorded on streets that don’t meet the necessary conditions to enforce the law.
Qatar has achieved remarkable successes in traffic safety, especially in reducing road accident mortality, which fell from 16.6 deaths per 100,000 in 2006 to 4.9 cases per 100,000 last year. From 228 deaths in 2014 it has come down to 167 in 2018. But when it comes to run-over accidents, even though it is comparatively small in number, it has not reduced relatively to accident deaths over the years. When in 2014 it was 27 out of 228, it is 27 out of 167 in 2018.
These new regulations and awareness effort will surely help reduce these unfortunate events and will make Qatar roads even more safe. Sticking to these rules will also instil respect among drivers and pedestrians for each other and will bring a sense of discipline to our streets.
