When it comes to driving on Qatar’s roads, it seems that many motorists march to their own drumbeats – changing lanes suddenly, refusing to give the right of way at intersections, or reversing incorrectly.
Exercising caution while behind the wheel may seem like commonsensical advice, but several driving instructors who recently spoke to Doha News said many of the students in their classes – the majority of whom are not from Qatar – simply don’t understand the rules:
“Many expats don’t know anything about (the fundamentals of safe driving) and that can cause accidents,” said Hassan Abdel Hafez, training manager at the Doha Driving Academy.
The instructors said the problem stems from differences across driving cultures in various countries.
And though exam pass rates here are already low, some added that they favor the idea of stricter requirements for residents who wish to obtain driver’s licenses in Qatar.
Mindful that some of the people who are licensed to drive here may not be ready to get behind the wheel, authorities have been working to develop a unified driving curriculum to be taught across all schools, which one instructor said would “probably be introduced by next month.”
The new curriculum is expected to include more information on road signs, mandatory signals and a whole chapter on the mechanism of the car and how it works, according to Mohamed Al Sheikh, training manager of Al Khebra driving school.
But instructors argue that more driving hours and oversight of motorists are needed.
‘Unlearning’ bad habits
The majority of residents who enroll in driving schools here are expats (who account for more than 85 percent of Qatar’s population).
The steps one must take to obtain a driver’s license differ by nationality. Some residents can immediately swap their original driver’s license with a Qatari one.
Others who hold licenses from home are required to take between 12 to 25 hours of driving lessons and pass a driving test before getting their license.
But expats who have never been licensed must take 40 hours of road lessons, 10 hours of theory courses and exams.
According to Abdel Hafez, the current requirements are not strict enough to help students grasp the culture of driving in Doha – especially for expats who must “unlearn” poor driving habits picked up in their home countries:
“Some of these countries give driver licenses to citizens, who can’t even operate a motorcycle, let alone a car – and then we’re left to deal with it,” he said.
But Adel Salem, director of Al Rayah Driving School, said that the Traffic Department has implemented a sound system to ensure that a student cannot obtain his license without showing an understand of how the roads work.
Referring to the theory portion of the test, which covers issues like signage and road rules, he said “the exam is not easy,” adding that expats rarely pass it the first time they take it.
Practical exams
Students must also take two practical exams to get their license here.
One exam is held inside the driving school, during which a driver steers the car once ahead and once in reverse in an “L” shape (a three-point turn).
The driver is then required to parallel park between two pillars without knocking them down.
The other test is done on the main roads of Qatar. Driving instructors say most expats fail their practical exams at least once.
Each practical test can be taken four times. If an applicant fails a fourth time, he/she is required to retake the entire 40-hour driving course.
Abdel Hafez said around 65 percent of the expats fail at his school, while Al Sheikh said that two to five students fail each day at his.
Crowded roads
Despite these failure rates, over 100,000 licenses were issued in Qatar last year, according to government figures cited in the Peninsula.
That’s about 8,700 licenses every month, with around 90 percent of them going to expats.
To ensure residents – especially taxi and truck drivers – don’t return to their old methods of driving “without regard for anyone else on the road,” Al Sheikh suggested that there should be more supervision from the motorists’ companies and sponsors.
For his part, Abdel Hafez recommended that all expats take a mandatory evaluation exam to determine what level of driving they are at and how many lessons they need.
Government efforts
Though serious injuries from accidents are on the rise, 2014 government traffic figures suggest that the number of road deaths in Qatar has decreased compared to the previous year.
There were approximately 9.93 road deaths per 100,000 residents in 2014, compared to 12.2 per 100,000 residents the previous year.
This means that Qatar is on track towards meeting its National Development Strategy goal of reducing traffic fatalities to 10 deaths per 100,000 residents by 2016.
In 2013, the government launched a 10-year National Road Safety Strategy (NRSS), which aims to save at least 800 lives and prevent 2,000 serious injuries over the next decade.
Various strategies to improve road safety have been introduced since then, including the installation of more speed cameras and a road construction and improvement program, which has included converting many of the city’s roundabouts into intersections.
However, according to driving instructors, expats can be just as confused by intersections as roundabouts.
Abdel Hafez added that constant construction, road development and ensuing diversions also cause problems.
“The road diversions should be announced on the media, so drivers are prepared to deal with any changes on their route,” he said.
Despite the traffic department’s efforts, driving instructors say many residents remain frustrated at the “carelessness” of others on the road. Al Sheikh concluded:
”When someone is driving, he’s not only driving his car, he’s driving five cars because he has to pay attention to the cars surrounding him on his left, right, rear and front …This is a big responsibility.
A driver should be able to return to his home and family in one piece…that’s all we want.”
Thoughts?
Mr. Abdel Hafez brace yourself Comments are coming!!
“According to Abdel Hafez, the current requirements are not strict enough to help students grasp the culture of driving in Doha.” Culture? Which culture?
The one it seems you don’t know…
I am driving here for more than 20 years, my friend (without an accident). I watch the non-existing culture and I know what to expect. But a “culture” of driving is non-existent. It’s an Un-culture at best.
I’d disagree. I’d say that the lack of driving culture is in itself its own unique driving culture.
Culture has something to do with order, anonymouse. If there is no order it’s a non-culture, or the wild west.
And I am the King of Venus.
I am the King of Mars
Haha. We all know the problem but people and officials here like to revolve around issues rather than face them. Get tough on whoever committing infraction, and put a police patrol in every roundabout and intersection 24 hours a day 7 days a week. The amount of fines the Ministry of Interior will collect in one month will be more than enough for their next year’s budget.
Locals knows everything about safety!?!
“Several driving instructors who recently spoke to Doha News said many of the students in their classes – the majority of whom are not from Qatar” Isn’t It Obvious?
Traffic law enforcement… It’s already been said a million times!
Simply making the exams harder will not make better drivers. An encyclopedic knowledge of road signs doesn’t mean people will obey them. The ability to parallel park into a tight space teaches nothing about how to behave on the roads.
Two infractions in your first year, and you lose your licence, banned for 6 months, and then take the exams again.That should work.
Bingo – I doubt very much that the people driving at 200km/hr on D Ring road believe they aren’t breaking the road rules, or when they squeeze their vehicle between a lane and the curb to get to the front of the queue, or when they turn left from the straight ahead lane…
They all know they are breaking the rules. They also know that they will never be punished for doing so.
lock a few people up and crush a few cars – no.more.problem
Agreed. There’s always some idiotic scheme being touted to make the roads better. Last year it was ‘No licences for low-income workers’. Now, there’s this. Next month it will be ‘Indians can drive on Sundays, Europeans on Tuesday, Americans on Wednesdays, Nepalis between Midnight and 2:00 am when the moon is waning.’ or some other nonsense.
Financial penalties don’t work either. Even speed cameras are very limited, and don’t stop the kind of idiocy you’ve described at junctions.
Policemen in cars, issuing penalty points that ultimately lead to a ban. Maybe even instant confiscation of vehicle for the severest idiocy.
Ha! When I checked (on the MoI website) the reg number of the jacked-up at the back old LC driver that had just flashed me, overtaken on the inside then stood on the brakes on front of me in the underpass to teach me that I should get out of his way, I saw over QR20K in unpaid fines from 2012 and 12 points ie banned.
Get some foreign police that will enforce the law.
What an a hole
It is a joint responsibility indeed, but I do believe that many selfish people are not aware of that.
Exactly
Let’s say it again, loud and clear: the laws are NOT enforced. And as long as they are not enforced, nothing will change.
Speaking of the Law, there was an amendment to the Road Traffic Law over two years ago about increasing the amount of tuition hours prior to the test and the requirement for all testing stations to install a virtual driving machine. It never happened. The test centers have dragged their feet. Will these changes be enforced in ‘about a month’s time’? Doubt it.
Yes,but then the instructors would have to know how to drive as well.
Perhaps it is time that Doha News interview the Chief of Police and ask simply why the laws are not enforced. Clear and simple question.
I can hear the ramblings of statistics now.
And awards…..all aligned with… etc
Just yesterday – local lady making video selfie whilst overtaking me on the inside in her X5, policeman on my left at sloping r/a on his mobile in his LC, 12 year old driving LC, his driver sitting in the back.
Not to mention 90%of locals are on the phone, south east Asian drivers hogging the middle lane, lorry drivers indicating left then turning right, total lack of courtesy, kids poking out of sunroofs, etc, etc, etc.
If I can see these, why can’t the police?
Its called a “Mirage” not to be confused with reality
Because they are morons
Maybe they should hire better instructors if they are proclaiming proudly that they cannot teach their students.
This article is heavily based on expat drivers, granted they do make up the majority of the population but there is not a single mention of how Locals obtain their driving licence. In the 20 years I have lived in Qatar I have never seen a Qatari in a driving school car.
Discuss!
I would assume they’d have to do the same?
@AEC:disqus based on what? have you ever seen a Qatar in a Learner Car?
Nope – but it would pretty nutty if you had a different test for everyone
Mind you I have seen primary school kids driving here so obviously anything goes.
Anything goes indeed. Depends who you know and who can get you what. That sums it all up.
since when has “normal” had any bearing on how things work here
Will I drove one on my test day and that’s it.
After that they changed the rules a bit, so my brother had to do at least 12 to 24 hours of mandatory lessons in the driving school.
As some of the recent tragic road deaths have regularly revealed, a number of Qataris drive without licenses.
“When someone is driving, he’s not only driving his car, he’s driving five cars..” What an awful lot of bullshyte. Even a Formula 1 driver cannot drive five cars, but he can count on the others obeying the rules!
You said you’re driving for more than 20 years here so you should know better that you have to observe at all time what other drivers are doing around you and be prepared for anything.
There is no statistical evidence indicate in this article that those who do the driving test (pass/fail) are in any way having/causing more accidents. It seems to be just anecdotal evidence from what driving instructors have said. A bit more serious research would help.
This subject seems to be rather boring due to it’s repetition nature.Well, let’s all refresh the same comments posted earlier for the new comers of dohanews readers.
the driving school aspect is a bit different
“Some of these countries give driver licenses to citizens, who can’t even operate a motorcycle, let alone a car – and then we’re left to deal with it,” he said.
Mr. Hafez needs to provide an insight of how the license procedure is for all – expats & locals. Till that is not clarified, my presumption is that the above statement applies to this country too.
My driving instructor offered me a licence for a bottle of whiskey
Was it O’ban’?
I would venture to say that most of the people being sent through the driving schools have never owned a car in their home countries, and probably never driven. You can’t simply put a novice through a course of lessons and expect them to be an accomplished driver. Such new drivers should be required to have an ‘L’ plate on their car for 6-12 months, so people will give them wide berth. They should also be required not to drive in the outer lane of expressways. I have actually had people stop in front of me in a roundabout, simply because they didn’t know where they were going!
The test does require a few modifications:
The practical test should include driving a vehicle with your knees at 120kph while reading a text message and smoking a cigarette.
The theory test should include the multitude of hand signals you may encounter from irate drivers on a daily basis.
Increasing the standard of those getting new licences is all well and good, but they will soon have to unlearn all these rules as none of the existing road users will be following them.
As mentioned already, enforcing road laws and penalising erratic driving needs to happen if they truly want to improve road safety – and that means penalising everyone – from the irresponsible pickup stopping on a roundabout to drop off or pick up person to the aggressive Land Cruiser flashing, speeding, playing on their phones while children are unfastened climbing around the vehicle
(nb. no nationality or gender has been mentioned as we have all seen expats, locals, men, women and children do the most unbelievable and irresponsible things while driving and putting themselves and others in avoidable danger)
Yes, we ALL know the problem… It’s obvious, so here’s a BUSINESS SOLUTION to the problem. I have talked to my co-workers, and they all like it, so if any of you enterprising folks want to take a stab at it here it is: You go to a Qatari with money and make a deal with him to sponsor your idea… YOUR IDEA… FIRST you get a contract with MOI, because you are going to make them LOTS of MONEY. You lease 25 cars, all different and install GPS and a timing clock. You install front and back radars, front and back video camera’s with time stamps, and 2 operators, 1 of which drive the vehicle and the other operating an in car video camera… You have these cars out on the streets 24 hours a day. You videotape speeders, tailgaters, people on their cell phones, kids not in child safety seats, and at the end of each day, one copy of the video goes to MOI for ticketing of the person who is registered to the license plate you just took a video of and you keep a copy for accounting purposes… you get 10% of EVERY ticket (average 2 tickets an hour)… After 2 weeks, if the ticket is not paid, the owner of the vehicles’ home is approached, the vehicle is impounded… Now he pays an impoundment fee and the ticket, on the spot, with your wireless credit card machine. Bad driving solved… within 1 year your company will be making millions of riyals.
Good idea apart from…..WASTA…so won’t work, sorry.
What’s WASTA? Not familiar with that phrase or concept, other than maybe it wasn’t a Qatari idea.
“wasta”.
The word that corrupts all GCC countries.
Wasta my dear friend, is when you wait in cue for 2 hours, and a qatari skips it all.
Wasta is when you die till you get your license, while someone gets it to his door steps.
Wasta my friend, bails you from jail, cancels your fines, gets you out from anywhere anything anytime anyplace 🙂
Wasta… Ok, well, All I know is when I submit my vids with 1200 infractions per day (25 cars,x 24 hours x min. of 2 infractions per hour) , that’s what I’m getting paid my 10% from MOI on. MOI can decide who they want to fine and not fine, Wasta, it be.
my daughter just have her driving licence after attending the driving school and passing test as i am old driver i advise her about the reality of driving on road is different than school why because on road u have very different atmosphere of driving, to safe driving we have to give way to reckless drivers otherwise accidents happened. my view is be patient and dont take unnecessary risks follow the rules and keep vigilant until reach home.
This is a new twist to the lawlessness on the roads; students don’t comprehend the lessons and the tests have to be tougher!! The driving schools will have a field day with failed students repeating the courses again and again. The “expert drivers” they churn out from the driving schools will be left in the lurch with the rogue drivers ruling the road.
The real issue is overlooked. Just become civilized drivers. Problem solved.
I don’t have licence and got no intentions to have one….why would I drive in Qatar where respect for life never exist. ? Local race on all over if they cause accident blame goes to expatriates…..surely. ?
But still you do ride on the vehicles whether you drive it yourself or not and that is quite a risk. Don’t you think?
So are you trusting your life to a driver then who will probably kill you quicker than some other lunatic driver on the road. Or worse still are you trusting your child’s life to one of these drivers who have no concept of seat belts and little kids sitting unrestrained in the front seat? Safer that you drive a decent sized car and then you only have to worry about other cars taking you out.
Hahahahhaa…. what a Joke.. there is NO decent driving culture here, and the Instructors.. in my first day of driving lesson, he said in his English “Tomorrow 100 Riyal good training, NO 100 riyal NO good training” this is common in all training centers…
What was his nationality?
Why does that matter?
Seeing some of the bad driving habits by pupils in learner cars, I think that the instructors need to go back to school first and learn how to drive. They are teaching the pupils in the first place. Who regulates their qualifications and ability to teach?
The worst that kills me the most is roundabouts. Where you gets stepped over and No Lanes exists.
All it takes is decent, fair enforcement by the police … it genuinely is that simple … it won’t make it perfect but it will make it half as bad overnight … why not try it?
Wasta is why
It’s really no-brainer, just enforce the law on everyone. That’s it, done, solved forever.
Strange I have never seen a learner car larger than a Tilda……………………….. the excitement of moving to a bigger car must be too much for many. Some countries by law require that even passing a test, the driver must display the learner plates for 1 year and have a speed limiter restriction. Then there’s the reality of getting your first car and it’s a 6 litre, turbo charged bullet……..nothing to see here officer…sorry to wasta your time. Move on please.
Obtaining the license isnt the issue. It is people bad attitudes and ignorance towards driving that causes accidents.
They could make people take 50 exams before getting a license. They would still drive recklessly because of the attitude and ignorance about road safety.
And the laws should be enforced. There are tons of road rules here but no one is enforcing them.
This is heavily expat oriented. Granted there are several bad drivers, but everybody out on the streets also know about the other half. What about all the land cruisers and 4×4 that come up inches behind you, intimidate you, zip through lanes haphazardly?why are we ignoring that ‘elite’ section of road rage and bad manners? It’s a collective blame and needs to be addressed in its entirety.
LAWs of the road are for the POOR and NOT for RICH ROYALS or Qatari locals
Lets add to that, “harder to get and harder to KEEP” the license.
Perhaps the true answer lies with “self driven”cars.Volvo and Audi are close I hear.
Teaching standards need to be raised as well. When I got my license 4 years ago I basically had to teach myself how to drive. I was also forced to sign up for the exam after completing only half of the lessons that I paid for, and the deal was that if I passed, I would get my license and would no longer be allowed to have any more practice time at the school. Luckily I did NOT pass the first time and got to use the rest of my practice hours. But I’ll never forget how my “instructor” came looking for me because he was expecting a cash bonus if I passed on the first go. That told me a heck of a lot about the system.
If the schools trained their instructors properly, set up a thoughtful, well-executed curriculum, and required more students to complete the scheduled course before taking their exam, they might have a lower failure rate and hey maybe more responsible and educated students. Early examinees should be the exception and not the rule. For starters. Ahem.
Asking the instructors why do people drive bad, is like asking a robber why is the money missing from the bank lol. The instructors themselves are bad drivers so how will they teach people? My instructor for instance asked me to pay him 2500 Riyals to pass my exam lol.
If I was to guess, the drivers that come to this country don’t even have a license because the immigration department issues visa for drivers without even having any prerequisites or checking if the person can drive or not. After that do you think the person that hires a driver will even bother to send him to a driving school and spend all that money and time for him to learn?
I read an article last year that said a guy got his license after 250+ tries, it was a shock to me. Back home he used to be a farmer or something. His sponsor must have been very generous.
Back when I got my license there were stricter rules. You had to drive a manual car for 40 days, there was L, S and Pocket parking test, the signs on the road and then finally the road test. Now the tests are nice and easy so everyone can pass and drive recklessly. They don’t teach the drivers to think critically as they did back then.
I can recall in 2008 before the financial crisis hit Dubai and everyone from Sharjah and Bur Dubai stormed to Qatar, it was then when everything got really bad. Obviously they used to be horrible drivers there and when they moved here they just had to swap their license. We went from a predictable hazard which were the Land cruisers, to an ocean full of mysterious drivers who don’t know where they are going, what they wanna do or how to drive like a normal human being. I have seen everyone drive like this in Bur Dubai and Sharjah and most of these are people of all Asian (“Arabs are Asians too” for those who think they are not) and African countries.
The other issue this country has in terms of Public transportation is the racism and it’s promoted that way. Back when Karwa Monthly pass was issued they had a cartoon of a Qatari guy holding a pass for his Indian employee, this was the message that was being spread out across the country showing how the bus system is for low class citizens. Funny thing is; no one pointed a finger or objected to that. Public transit is for all the people that are not allowed to enter the malls or souq waqif on “Family day”. Plus most Karwa drivers don’t know how to drive, I was about to get into fights with many of them for driving irresponsibly and this was when the roads were empty at 3 AM, So imagine how bad they drive during normal working hours. Near Gulf Cinema a Karwa bus slammed into the back door of my car when entering the service lane without giving any signal and then the Traffic department blamed me for the accident, obviously because Karwa has their “WASTA”.
Well, When I took my driving lessons and the tests at al-khebra (Its the first time I’ve been to a driving school, passed all exams in 1shot-But not proud, rather worried now) I understood that all tests took place in this methodical way. like if u do ABCDE at the test u’d pass. the situation was always fixed and not random. hence students pass I guess. when we hit the roads all by our selves, we are put in to random situations where we must make appropriate assumptions to protect ourselves as well the others around us. And the driving schools fails to give us this experience, big time!
When at the L turn and reverse test, the instructors would give us the measurements of where to push the break, where to apply gas and where to stop, but I doubt the students would actually make it if they are put in to an actual situation, no offence, but specially the ladies.
And even at the parking test, they would tell us the dimensions on where to turn, where to apply gas, where to reverse and stuff like that. so how would the students actually learn?? I think they need more practicals out of alkhebra, in real life places/situations. only then they can overcome all this madness they show at the roads.(each driver was once a student 😉 )
Agreeing with few other commentators, I live in the 6th floor of a flat where the location is full of traffic and police vehicles are seen often. most of the officers makes turns without indicators, their only way of indication is the siren, even under heavy traffic. they just put it on to move ten yards ahead to go in to a grocery up front or a shop. this happens like 4-5times a month. And most of the drivers are still using their mobile phones. isn’t the law tough enough or are they not been punished, well only the authorities know, besides they them selves break the law, so how can they expect people covered by it to obey? 🙁
I think just like how the government once invested in car seats (which was a great step) they should look at making it mandatory to “Fix and use” a hands free system in each vehicle just like the extinguisher under our seats.
Fatalities have gone down simply because the roads are more congested and the speed has been reduced. The figures have gradually gone down as the number of drivers has increased hugely with the same number of roads! The D ring used to be a race track and fatalities were a daily occurrence, now the D ring crawls the smashes have decreased, thats all.
howbout all the mysterious fighter jets that fly out of Doha almost every week!?
I followed a driving instructor the other day and he was on the phone while his student was all over the place! What hope is there!!
The authorities need to decide what standards they want new licensees to adhere to and employ instructors/examiners who respect and adhere to those standards. As far as I can see, the instructors aren’t much better than some of the worst offenders …