DOHA: The number of violations related to obstructing traffic flow during the first half of this year reached to 6,850 while in the second half of 2017 their number stood at 5374.

“The traffic law prohibits motorists from driving very slowly which does not commensurate with the traffic flow of the road. Such slow speed and other obstructions cause blocking of smooth traffic flow leading to road accidents and chaos creation,” Captain Ali Hamad Al Marri, head of Traffic Investigation Section at Madina Khalifa, said yesterday.

Al Marri, while addressing a press conference held as part of ‘Accident-free Summer’ campaign at the General Directorate of Traffic headquarters, highlighted risks of two traffic violations including wrong overtaking and blocking traffic and said that the number of violations of wrong overtaking from January to the end of July 2018 reached to 17,931.

Stressing the importance of moving vehicles from the scene in the event of minor accidents in order to avoid blocking of traffic flow and endangering the safety of other road users, he said that the fine for obstruction of traffic is QR1,000 and may reach to QR6,000 in some cases especially on highways.

“The Traffic Law stipulates a number of requirements for safe overtaking, including overtaking from the left, using the indicators, avoiding overtaking when the road is not fully visible and at pedestrian crossings,” he said.

He also stressed the importance of cooperation in spreading awareness to comply with traffic rules and avoid violations in order to ensure traffic safety.

Colonel Mohammed Radhi Al Hajri, Director of Media and Traffic Awareness Department at the General Directorate of Traffic said that ‘Accident-free Summer’ campaign, which entered its sixth week, focuses on the most frequent violations and seeks to minimise them in order to achieve maximum safety and security on the roads.

He pointed out that the behavioral and moral side played a major role in driving attitude of the drivers for respecting rules and traffic laws. “Driving is an art, taste and ethics.”

Colonel Al Hajri clarified that the wrong overtaking is one of the main causes of traffic accidents and may lead serious risks. A number of statistics were announced at the end of the press conference among them was the number of violations of not wearing seatbelts during August 4 to August 10 which is 679 and 344 violations related to using mobile while driving and 172 violations of crossing red signal.

Share this post