DOHA: Brigadier Muhammad Abdullah Al Maliki, Secretary of National Traffic Safety Committee, has said that Qatar stands at number one among the Middle East countries regarding the traffic safety.

“In order to reduce pedestrian accidents, which usually occur on the highways, about 35 places will have new pedestrian bridges. And also the dispatch points of ambulances will be made accordingly and all these steps are part of the second phase of the National Traffic Safety Strategy (2018-2022) which has already been started,” said Brigadier  Al Maliki.

The implementation of the second action plan has been assigned to more than 32 entities compared to 13 in the first phase. The plan aims at reducing pedestrian mortality rate to 17 percent of total deaths by 2022 (32 percent in 2016).

The average deaths in road traffic incidents in Qatar last year were 5.4 per 100,000 persons, a figure far below than the world average of 17.4 per 100,000 persons.

Regarding the challenges being faced by the committee, he said that among the challenges is to reduce serious injuries and to reduce pedestrian accidents to more 30 percent especially with the opening of new pedestrian bridges and new roads covering more than 400km. Brigadier Al Maliki was talking to Qatar TV.

Meanwhile, coordinators of entities concerned with the implementation of the National Traffic Safety Strategy discussed a number of topics related to the plans of as well as following up on the recommendations resulting from the meetings of the national committee for traffic safety and related forums in a meeting held yesterday at the General Directorate of Traffic.

Al Malki highlighted the most prominent challenges facing the committee as it aims to achieve the plans for the next five years as well as the major national goals associated with this phase.

He said that the timeline is short, which requires greater efforts to achieve the plans on time as they are related to national goals for traffic safety and sustainable transport, in addition to their close relation to economy, national security and achieving the UN requirements that Qatar committed to.

Al Malki added that the committee aims to activate the recommendation of its 18th meeting on the importance of personally following up on the progress by the officials of the concerned entities, swiftly handling the late projects in coordination with the National Traffic Safety Office, giving traffic safety priority in institutional plans, and providing coordinators of concerned entities ample time to carry out their duties to the fullest and submit quarterly reports. National Traffic Safety Office Director Kim Jerio highlighted the nature of challenges facing the implementation process in the current stage of the strategy and the progress of the concerned entities in terms of planning and projects.

Regarding achievements in the first phase, he said that one of the most important results achieved by the first phase is the success in reducing the number of deaths from 235 deaths, (14 deaths per 100,000 people) in 2013 to 178 deaths (6.93 deaths per 100,000 people) in 2016.