Making good on a pledge to come down harder on motorists who illegally pass cars via right-turn lanes or shoulders, a senior traffic official has said up to 100 vehicles a day are being seized for this offense.
That works out to nearly 3,000 cars since the Ministry of Interior (MOI) announced its crackdown on this dangerous practice last month.
Brig. Mohamed Saad Al Kharji, director general of the Traffic Department, confirmed the figure during an interview with Al Watan, which was also reported in Qatar Tribune.
He also announced that from next year, speed radars would be installed every 2km on key roads in a bid to reduce the number of fatal traffic accidents.
Passing on the right
Passing on the right is a common practice, but can be dangerous, as motorists who try to queue skip must cut in front of other cars in junctions and roundabouts at the last minute.
Using the “slow” right lane to overtake vehicles in the left lane is already a traffic violation punishable by a QR500 ticket.
But in June, the Traffic Department announced that motorists who try to illegally pass cars in roundabouts and intersections from the right lane also risk having their cars impounded for up to one month.
Months before that, in September, the Traffic Department announced it had set up high-tech surveillance cameras on major roads to catch drivers who cut in from the right-hand slow lane.
The number of patrols on the roads that monitor drivers’ actions has also increased from 17 to 40, Al Kharji said.
And in a general bid to bring down bad driving practices, unmarked patrols were introduced last month in key problem spots – including in Al Waab, the Expressway and C-Ring Road – to write up motorists who break the law.
More speed radars
Speeding is also an issue in some parts of Qatar, with Al Kharji saying that 95 percent of all fatal accidents here are caused by people driving too fast.
More people than before have been caught speeding recently – in excess of 87,000 in May, which was a jump of more than 13 percent for April, according to the latest government figures.
Al Kharji said that more radars would be installed next year to help catch those who speed, as well as motorists who drive too slowly – less than 40kmph – in the fast (left) lane.
The increased number of speed cameras was first announced in March this year, but at that time was no timeline was given for when they would be installed.
More people, more cars
In his interview, Al Khaji said that there were now 1 million cars on Qatar’s roads. With Qatar’s population now at nearly 2.2 million, that’s nearly one car for every two people in the country.
And the figure continues to rise, with around 9,000 new vehicles registered monthly, according to figures from the Ministry of Development, Planning and Statistics.
Last year, the statistics authority predicted that Qatar’s population could hit 2.4 million by 2015.
While the roads have been quieter recently as lots of people have left town for the summer, Qatar’s population usually spikes in September as residents return and a wave of new expats arrive.
Thoughts?
Well Done. I hope they keep this up. I always run into this problem at the Crazy Signal and Ramada Junction.
For some nationalities this doesn’t really matter. Impound my car for a month, I’ll just drive one of my other ones.
do nothing and you complain, do something and you complain still. maybe its not the best solution but what should they do, fine them? Would you then come back and say “for some nationalities this doesn’t really matter. they have enough money”
Withdraw their driving licence for one month for first offence, six months for the next and 2 years for the third. If caught driving without a licence, 10,000 QR fine, next offence 3 months in jail. Simple.
actually taking away someones car has a bigger impact than taking a driving license away…. you can physically make the person part away from his car for six month.. you can hardly really enforce who has a valid driving license and who doesn’t… i lost my license maybe six years ago… never needed it… but take my car away… even if i own three and let that one bake under the sun.. and ill be pissed.. and more careful.
Third offence take possession of car and auction it or crush it.
How do you get your car registration renewed without a valid license from six years? !!!!
Crush their car publicly, name and shame, imprison & fine relative to income. That ought to start making some impression.
Good.
I am impressed. Well done on this one.
A Great start I just hope they keep it up & hopefully expand on this!
I never overtake on the right. Why deny myself the joy of being stuck behind a Nissan Tiida doing 40kph in the left lane..
NO. Overtaking in this context means going into temp. parking lane to skip waiting in line not overtaking from right when moving which has a fine of 500QAR as it could lead to accidents.
So it means overtaking in the emergency lane? Not on the normal marked lanes?
Yes, to skip waiting in-line and to get ahead in traffic.
Or the joy of being flashy flashy by someone doing 180 behind you when you are stuck behind the said Tilda.
I often wonder why it’s primarily the Tiida’s and Sunny’s from Nissan that does this. Do these vehicles attract a certain mentality or is it just acceleration problems?
It seems they also have a steering problem as they seem unable to maintain lane discipline as well.
just a certain nationality who drive these two car models and who seem to be the worst drivers ever…. qataris are not bad drivers.. they’re very good.. they’re just reckless and careless… but the tida drivers.. omg!!!!
How can you be a very good driver if you are careless and reckless? A careless and reckless driver is the worst type of driver because they kill other road users.
Perfect example of an oxymoron.
So, is it the Oxymorons that are driving the Tiidas? We need to be told…
Pretty sure something has been lost in translation.
The only thing lost was my poor attempt at humour. Moron: Informal. a person who is notably stupid or lacking in good judgment.
fair play though, having a speed camera which catches people doing less than 40kmh is a great idea. with they would install something like that on the m4.
but what happens if someone slows down because of traffic up ahead?
Not doing anything to stop the divs crawling in the fast and middle lanes then.
Two buses not one but two made a sharp left into my lane as they tried to cut the que…. I was so angry and frustrated that I head home… Felt leaving home and driving at 10 PM in Doha was just not worth the hassle
Comment gone 🙁
gone where?
Looking forward to buying a cheap Landcruiser from the Police auction soon 🙂
If only. Next time you get passed at high speed by some maniac in a Land Cruiser note the number plate and check it on the MOI violations site. Often you’ll find dozens (if not hundreds) of violations over a very short period of time and none of them paid. It appears that, for whatever reason, these lunatics are never removed from the roads.
from what i’ve seen your more likely to get a battered pick up truck
Is it Aprils Fools Day? Really? Sceptical about this. But if it is all true, well good on them, finally some enforcement.
Probably not many cars relative to the number of cars on the road or number of violations – but it is a start.
It should be made clear that travelling in the right hand lane is the correct way to drive unless approaching a junction which requires you to move into the appropriate lane for your maneuver, and that the other lanes are for passing, not travelling. Travelling at a steady speed in the right hand lane on D Ring road every day on my journey home means I pass DOZENS of vehicles who are hogging the middle lane, whilst the right hand lane is stretching ahead of me, almost empty. That is not a driving offence, but hogging the middle lane should be as it causes congestion and creates frustration in others who cannot get past.
Also, please encourage indicating, so we all have an idea that the car next to us is about to lurch into our path. Let’s have some good, clear television advertising, explaining what to do, because clearly half of the million drivers on the road in Qatar don’t understand simple courtesy and safe practice.
Are you American? In many countries passing in the slow lane – for whatever reason – is a traffic violation.
I am not ‘passing. If that were so then the right hand lane would be virtually empty. I don’t career around the lanes, pulling right to overtake, which is what the law is about, not travelling correctly in the right hand lane.. It would be ridiculous to have to pull left to go behind a car in the middle lane. The alternative would be for me to pull behind the middle lane Hog and flash, hoping they will pull right.
The other issue is that drivers routinely pull across in front of other cars, to access an exit, rather than pulling across behind them.
It wouldn’t actually be “ridiculous”. If everyone only passed in the faster lanes and used other lanes as appropriate you would have traffic that flowed better and was safer. If you pass on the right of a car you are moving through their blind spot. If they pull right while you are there you are going to have an accident. Hence the signs on some big trucks
dying side.
Many years ago – in a fit of ‘image insanity’ I grew a moustache.
My impeccable driving record was marred by the only two (thankfully minor) traffic accidents I have ever had. Though not consciously making the connection at the time, I shaved off said ‘tache and I’ve never experienced any serious driving mishaps since.
Now you might think this moustache connection to bad driving is a tad delusional, but, next time you encounter poor driving, observe the driver, I bet you he’s sporting a moustache? I am convinced that moustaches are a road hazard.
I would also bet that, in UK for instance, that during the now popular ‘Movember’, road accident figures balloon exponentially? I’m willing to be proven wrong. 🙂
The main issue is the drivers in the fast (left) lane driving below the allowed limit and not giving the way to cross them. There should be a law for that too. It is one of the road ethics that driver should abide by the driving speed on the fast lane and give way to person behind him if he is slow. If one really want to drive slow, he should drive in the other lanes.
That’s good and well but what annoys some of us is when we are setting up to turn you get bullied by some moron who decides that 80 is for losers and he must do 120 in the said 80 zone. I refuse to move just indicate and move into my turning lane.
No it is not. Speeding and passing in the wrong lane and a number of other common practices here are significantly more dangerous than someone driving too slowly in the wrong lane. Just because you are in more of a hurry than someone else doesn’t give you any more justification to drive more dangerously than anyone else.
Exactly. The speed limit us the maximum speed limit regardless of what lane. The left lane isn’t the no speed limit lane but some arrogant halfwits seem to think it is…
anything that helps is welcome, it’s no fun when you have a 2 month old baby and a 4 year old in the car.
I remember once I had a small accident, which wasn’t my fault but the policeman at the station insisted it was…not going into details, when I used the argument that I was indicating the policeman said: “Indicating is for you!” and here I gave up……unfortunately we can see police driving against any rules, and there is not enough of them on the streets, they should have bike police that will chase up any violations
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