Photos courtesy of Finayat on Twitter

A popular Tea Time shop near Ramada signal appears to be as busy as ever, despite an accident last night in which a Qatar resident crashed his car through the storefront’s window.

Speaking to Doha News, the karak shop’s manager said the incident happened around 11:30pm, when a customer left the restaurant, returned to his vehicle and accidentally accelerated forward instead of reversing his car.

The man was driving a Mitsubishi Lancer and was with his wife and child when the car ploughed about a meter into the shop, which is adjacent to the Jarir Bookstore plaza, witnesses said.

No one was injured in the accident, and the customer was not arrested, the manager added.

This morning, all the broken glass appeared to have been swept away, and one of the large floor-to-ceiling windows was replaced with drywall and wooden boards.

Business appeared to be continuing normally, as several customers could be observed sitting inside the shop, while employees ran out to serve patrons in their cars.

Other crashes

While such car crashes are relatively rare in Qatar, they do appear to be happening more frequently and often gain a lot of public attention.

For example, in April, a car crashed into the front window of a Qatar Islamic Bank branch in Al Rayyan.

And in January, a shop worker sustained serious injuries after an SUV parked outside his Bin Omran store suddenly accelerated and drove into him, knocking him to the ground.

Meanwhile, last February, a video of a silver sedan crashing through a Ferrari/Maserati showroom at the Pearl-Qatar went viral.

And a month before that, a large white SUV crashed into California Tortilla, shattering the restaurant’s front window and damaging a nearby car.

Such reckless driving incidents often spark renewed conversations about road safety in Qatar, where traffic accident are among the leading causes of death.

Thoughts?