With an influx of more than 500 people a day, including 20 immigrants arriving per hour, Qatar is struggling to accomodate its growing population in a myriad of ways.

Nowhere is that more apparent than on the country’s roads, which constantly teem with vehicles, accidents and frustration.

Why does such bad driving persist?

The fault lies in part with the agencies that issue driver’s licenses to bad drivers in the first place, a report published in today’s Peninsula asserts.

Less than half of driver’s education trainees pass their exams on the first try, the report states.

But the problem may have to do less with the students and more with their education, which is rife with corruption due to high demand for driver’s licenses in Doha.

The Peninsula reports:

The foul play, so to say, seems to begin at the driving schools themselves since they pay paltry salaries to instructors, deploy vehicles that are older than the rules prescribe and their officials allegedly demand extra cash (up to QR350 in some cases) from desperate admission-seekers to facilitate their immediate enrolment and for not being put on the long waiting lists.

Those who do not pass can also pay their way into procuring a license, the report states.

Though the government has tightened regulation on driver’s training schools, problems persist, in part due to the mentality of those who work there.

When asked what happens to instructors who solicit students for cash, the manager of one driving school told the Peninsula:

Whenever a student complains against an instructor asking for money, we keep a tab on him. If he continues with the practice, we just terminate his services after completion of his contract with the company.

Thoughts?

Credit: Photo by sciondriver