Qatar saw 572 accidents on its roads last month, a significant jump from the 397 witnessed in January, new data released by a government ministry shows.
Most of those – some 511 of them – were minor accidents. But at least 61 of them were serious, resulting in injuries and fatalities. That’s 11 more than in January, according to the Ministry of Development, Planning and Statistics’ second monthly bulletin.
In terms of road deaths, there were 13 fatal accidents in February, compared to 14 in January. However, it is unclear how many people were killed in each accident.
Meanwhile, accidents resulting in injury – but not death – totaled 48 in February, compared to 36 in the previous month. Once again, how many people were injured was not disclosed.
Expanding population
Lacking a year-on-year comparison, putting the statistics into context is difficult. But it’s possible that this rise in accident rates could be explained by Qatar’s continually expanding population, which went up by around 100,000 between January and February this year.
Figures for both January and February show that more than 8,000 new vehicles are currently being registered in Qatar every month, adding to the country’s traffic woes.
While detailed demographic data has not been included in the report, a separate study found that 97 percent of the 228 people who died in traffic accidents in Qatar in 2010 were men – a figure explained in part by the country’s gender imbalance, which leads to more men on the road.
A breakdown of the nationalities of the drivers involved has also not been disclosed in the statistics.
Road death ‘more likely than stroke’
A recent study concluded that Qatar residents are five times more likely to die in a vehicle crash than from a stroke – the highest ratio in the world.
Researchers at the University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute arrived at these findings recently after comparing the relative number of road fatalities in several countries to various other leading causes of death across the world.
Qatar was also found to have the planet’s highest ratio of motor vehicle deaths to fatal cases of heart disease.
While the results may appear alarming, the study may have been skewed by the relatively low prevalence of cancer, strokes and heart disease in this country, rather than the carnage on Qatar’s roads.
Here’s the full statistics report for February:
Thoughts?
Whilst drivers are allowed to drive without any regard for the law or others, the rate will continue to rise. Enforce the law. By the way any news of the much touted Highway Patrol meant to be in place as of January gone?…No..didn’t think so.
They’re out patrolling the highways, you know that busy piece of road between Al Shamal and Zubara 😉
I have lived in this country for 8 years now and I have yet to ever see a police car pull someone over for speeding, reckless driving / endangerment, etc. They only time they seem to turn up is after the fact when there has been a crash.
Qatar wants to reduce these figures? ENFORCEMENT OF THE LAW (equally regardless of nationality)
If 8000 new cars are being registered every month is there any way to get the figures for how many cars are being taken off the road every month? I’m curious.
Not that many … The population just keeps on raising … Old cars are hardly being replaced by new ones just being resold in the secondary car market
No way these figures can be reduced until they Enforce the Laws (as mentioned by Jason, equally regardless of nationality). Reckless drivers (mostly driving 4 wheels) should be severely punished for their arrogance, negligence and stupid driving. Reducing the number of these fatalities may take time as it needs proper guidance of growing kids. When these growing kids become arrogant and consider themselves as if they are superior to everyone else on the road; they drive recklessly causing high percentage of accidents..
Police need to get their priority right in enforcing the law. they are champion in summoning illegal parking at 4-laned, almost empty road (which cause no traffic disturbance what-so-ever), but letting the speed demon off the hook.
Spend more time to tackle the REAL cause of accident to get REAL result.
I have purchased and now drive with a GoPro on my dashboard recording the road before my car. You may think this insane however it may be the only way to prove where my car was at the time of an accident, i.e. In my lane with the lights green etc.. I would love to have the opportunity to take Tamim out in my car and drive him from my house to work so that he can witness the journey without the privilege of an armed escort. I get frustrated as I feel (as most expats I guess) that I have no connection with the authorities and cannot raise my concerns directly with them. I guess that they don’t come here to read Doha News comments section. I would appreciate if some of the Qatari commentators here could give feedback to us if they feel the same on this matter or if they have a means of raising issues with the authorities.
Oops, voted myself up!
No problem, you deserve it 🙂
Are we allowed to have video cameras in our cars? I didn’t think we were allowed. I thought filming people without their consent was a big no-no.
You are not filming people you are filming vehicles.
Don’t know the answer to that one but I believe that it would be aimed at focusing on a particular individual or group. This is the same as taking a photo of the Corniche for example. Do I need to get everyones permission who are in the frame. Anyway, driving down the path should be a greater concern for the police than my GoPro.
Grazy and reckless youngsters speeding and bullying with pimped ‘trucks’ weighting 2,000 kg+. The country is on the right track.
Root cause, a group of individuals think “in their own minds” they stand above all others…until that small thought is removed, this is the type of headline we will see…citizens vs residents, there is no equality, means there will be no change. it would be nice to see, but don’t hold your breath…
Qatari males aged between 19 and 30 will continue to die in increased numbers, continue to not care about the consequences of their actions and continue to buy ridiculously oversized pickups that simply bully other traffic out of the way, ludicrously colored sports cars that accelerate and tailgate at high speed and high powered bikes that they use to ‘wheelie’ in the traffic around the lagoona mall and pearl every weekend., revving their engines in some macho testosterone ritual that only impresses other like minded loonies riding with them. Without law enforcement (and we all know there is none in effect) we shall simply wait for the monthly statistics to generate more of the same miserable reading. Imagine the REAL numbers…………..The reality is there is no solution unless penalties and controls become to international standard (with enforcement / bans etc) and the Qatari government know it. These statistics are bleak indeed, but won’t stop the carnage.
if it were just the idiots killing themselves i’d say let natural selection run it’s course. but it is the innocents they take out, and the others they stimulate to drive like they as if the road is like a real-life X-box game that is the issue.
A Qatari told me that it is easy to get driving penalties erased if you know the right person, so increased enforcement will not affect the drivers who are the most irresponsible.
That’s called Wasta! That’s how they roll baby!