A Qatar court has ordered an expat woman who struck and killed a four-year-old child with her car to pay a fine of QR10,000, Al Raya reports.
The defendant, who is from the Philippines, was accused by the prosecution of reckless driving. She was also told to pay, along with an insurance company, QR200,000 in blood money to the victim’s relatives.
According to the newspaper, which did not specify when the accident happened, the woman had been driving in a residential area in Bin Omran when she ran over a Pakistani boy. Gulf Times translates:
“While she denied that she was responsible for the accident and had stopped to help the child, witnesses testified that they had seen her car hitting the four-year-old.
The victim’s father, who was at work when the accident took place, rushed to the emergency section of a hospital on being informed about the accident. However, the child was already dead by the time he arrived.”
Pedestrian deaths
According to traffic officials, about a third of all Qatar’s road fatalities involve pedestrians.
Dr. Rafael Consunji, director of Hamad Medical Corp.’s Injury Prevention program, said last year that some 300 people annually are brought to HMC after being involved in pedestrian road accidents.
“What is sad is that with all the advanced equipment and trained staff, 71 percent of them die on the spot,” Consunji said.
High vehicle speeds play a big role in the deaths, the doctor added. At 76km/h, there is a 90 percent chance of a driver killing a pedestrian he hits.
Qatar has run repeated campaigns urging both motorists and pedestrians to be more aware of their surroundings and take care to stay safe.
Meanwhile, residents have long been calling for increased enforcement of traffic laws on the roads as a way to decrease violations and accidents.
Some have also criticized the punishments given to motorists who land in court for killing pedestrians as too lenient, saying fines and the suspension of a driver’s license are not enough of a deterrent to improve road habits.
Thoughts?
We have to question also the responsibility of public authorities, where pedestrians often have to sahre the roads with cars because of the lack of sidewalks and pedestrian crossings.
It would be good to know the circumstances of the accident along with the penalty. Did the woman strike the child on a crossing, was she speeding, did the child run onto the road, was there no footpath and the family forced to walk on the road? While I don’t want to suggest blame to the victim if that is not the case it might help to know exactly how the accident happened.
It’s very frustrating the number of times that DN tells half the story, especially in the case of legal issues like this. I think we all are looking for reassurance that the Qatari system is functioning properly, but we’re seldom able to make a judgement based on what we read.
“……and there your Honour is the problem in a nutshell. I rest my case”
So basically, in Qatar you can kill a child with your car at a cost of a mere 10,000 QAR ($2,700). Outrageous. If the driver was negligent, she should be jailed and publicly shamed as a warning to others.
A 4 year old playing in the street alone which “suddenly came out to the middle of the street”. Who exactly is the negligent one here? The parents.
I live in this area and many times little boys just dash out into the road-even right across the stop sign-on their bikes, age btw 4-12 ( as it seems to me). They also play ball or just walk and run around. I drive extra slowly on my way home as I get so scared one will run out in front of my car.
Actually QR 10,000 fine + QR 200,000 blood money but still, a life is a life
1) It’s 10,000 for people who read the title only. People who bother to read the whole article can see it’s 200,000.
2) You don’t know the circumstances of the accident. You even said *if* the driver was negligent, and then wish for a higher fine.
For people who read the article, they will realize that the 200,000 is paid by primarily by the insurance company. The 10,000 is the only punitive measure. So my original statement is true, and the punishment is as appalling as ever.
I’m not saying she is innocent as I don’t know the circumstances.
However, I do know that there are certain streets in Bin Omran that almost always have kids playing unattended. On occasion a toddler with a sibling.
So i wonder what the full circumstances are. It is hard to tell if she was negligent without the whole story.
Actually I know the complete story. The child involved in the accident was my cousin. This accident was happened last year. The child was outside his house with his elder brother and another cousin. At that time the child was unattended and he suddenly came out to the middle of the street. The girl how was driving the vehicle was a nurse from HMC. She hit the child and his head was struck to road. At that time when she saw that the street was empty so she tried to run away from the spot. While she was leaving the child on the road one Indian driver was standing near his sponsor home saw the girl and noted down the number of the vehicle. The child was then rushed to hospital and on midnight he passed away due to his head injury. His skull was crushed in to four pieces due to high impact of the collision. Meanwhile the police and the CID were searching for the person who had hit the child but could not. Then the Indian driver told his sponsor about the incident and then the sponsor called the police and told about the vehicle number which was involved in the accident. The CID then drove to the female nurse home and arrested her at home. At first she tried to refuse the allegations but after wards she confessed and the Indian driver recognized her in court room. The reason of very less fine was due to the child attendance by an adult on the road. I hope everything is clear now.
Sorry for your loss and thank you for posting with some details. If this is the case then it contradicts what is reported in the above article that she stopped to assist after the accident. If what you say is true then the fine would have been for failing to stop at an accident and it should have been reported as such. It doesn’t take much speed to cause a significant and mortal head injury, especially when children are little. Im glad the courts recognised that he should have been supervised and that led to a reduction in the fine (and presumably no jail time) as his death does sound as though it was just a tragic accident
Very sorry for your loss.
Hit and run is a serious issue – the article above claims that she stopped to assist.
Will always give way to pedestrians – but unattended children on streets (playing unacceptable) and spaced out jay walking ijits are a no no.
To some extend the article is true but when she hit the child so she ran away. After a few while when she noticed that people had gathered to the scene so she came back again and tried to assist the child. But she never told the crowd that she had actually hit the child. Instead the crowd was thankful to her for assistance.
الله يرحمه ويدخله فسيح جناته
We all want to believe that Justice is served in Qatar, and the headline and story is somehow giving a sense otherwise
So it goes to question, who is to blame on this incident? It could very well be both parties. Though, in my opinion and not to sound callous, it is much more the guardians’ and parents’ responsibility for the safety of their child. As what has been commented, the child was “UNATTENDED”. Would anyone allow their kids to play along streets knowing fully well that roads are supposedly meant for vehicles to use? Many would be aware how hard it is to suddenly stop a moving vehicle when a pedestrian suddenly crosses the street.
The driver may well be driving within the limit of what is allowed on residential areas, though as what has already been mentioned, it doesn’t take a lot of force to injure a child by being hit by a car.
Though a life is still a life.