DOHA: The number of traffic violations in Qatar fell significantly during May, making roads safer for commuters.

Total traffic violations declined by 58 percent to 118,787 violations in May this year compared to 283,832 violations in the same month previous year, showed the 53rd issue of Qatar Monthly Statistics bulletin released yesterday by the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics.

Among the traffic violations, the highest fall was seen in the category of violations of traffic signs. As many as 20,428 cases of violations of traffic signs were registered in May last year, which fell by 72 percent to 5,714 such violations in May this year. Violations caught by radars fell by 58 percent while violations of traffic instructions declined by 43 percent in May this year compared to same month previous year.

There were 69,975 violations caught by radars during May this year while 16,618 were the violations of traffic instructions. The number of traffic accidents and the traffic deaths decreased by 1.3 percent, and 16.7 percent respectively as compared to May 2017, revealed the data.

Total violations fell despite the increase in the number of new vehicles coming on the road. According the monthly bulletin total number of registered vehicles during May reached 5,443 new vehicles showing an increase of 3 percent compared to previous month. A total of 551 traffic cases were recorded during May 2018, showing a monthly decrease of 3.6 percent compared to April 2018.

Minor injuries accounted for the vast majority of traffic accidents in May having a share of 89 percent in the total cases while the share of severe injuries was just 9 percent.

The demographic statistics revealed that the total population in Qatar increased from 2.70 million during May 2017 to almost 2.73 million by the end of May this year, demonstrating an annual increase of 1.2 percent. The annual number of deaths in Qatar decreased by 9.9 percent compared to May last year.

A total of 2,148 live births were registered in May this year, registering a 4.8% annual increase compared to April 2018. This increase was offset by a decrease in Qatari live births by 13% compared to last month. Total 192 deaths were recorded during the same period showing a decrease of 6.3% as compared to April 2017. However, this decrease was offset by an increase of 23% in deaths.

The total number of marriage contracts was 303 in May 2018, whereas divorces reached 110 cases.

The number of social security beneficiaries, reaching 13,837 individuals in May, and the total value for social security exceeded QR79.1m during the same month. Total electricity utilisation during May 2018 was 3311.2 GWh attaining a monthly increase of 26.8% as compared with last month, while recording an annual drop of 20.6% compared to May 2017.