Qatar’s Traffic Department is expected to raise the speed limit on February 22nd Street back to 100km/hour, according to local media reports.
Al Raya said the change would come into effect today, but speed limits on the Doha Expressway from the Salwa Road to the Duhail interchanges continued to read 80km/hour this morning.
However, a source close to the matter told Doha News the change would be imminent.
The new 80km/hour limit took effect in January, and caught many motorists off-guard due to its overnight implementation.
At the time, officials said the reduced limit was part of a trial to see if slower speeds would ease congestion and cut the number of accidents on the road.
Complaints
In March, Brig. Mohammed Saad Al Kharji, director of the Traffic Department, said the move had helped cut the number of major accidents on the road. It also made it easier and safer for vehicles to join the main flow of traffic on the expressway from adjoining slip roads and service roads.
Al Kharji suggested at the time that the trial would run for another two years, saying that the 100 km/hr limit might be reinstated once major construction work to Al Rayyan Road is completed.
According to Ashghal, the second phase of that project is not expected to be finished until the fall of 2017.
However, it appears the trial has concluded early, and the speed limit will be raised this week largely due to calls from senior officials unhappy about the change.
In April, members of Qatar’s Advisory Council urged the traffic department to restore the original speed limit.
And in today’s report, Al Raya said the restoration of the speed limit came at the recommendation of a committee who said slower speeds were causing confusion and increasing congestion on the already busy road.
Which speed limit do you prefer? Thoughts?
This is a Gud idea though the reduced speed reduced no of which is on the positive side. Still the Vehicles go in 50-60kmph under the Midmac bridge on the fast(first) lane which is disturbing other drivers. When increased to 100 these type of drivers will go at a safer pace atleast by70kmph. This can reduce provoking other Drivers esp the land crui-s(h)ers
Huh?
He was writing this while driving at 80 down the doha expressway….
If the speed limit is not enforced it doesn’t matter. If it was raised to 160, there would still be idiots tailgating, and flashing, any driver abiding by the limit.
As if it ever needs repeating here – how about enforcing the rules and reigning in the behaviour of the ‘homicidal clowns’!
It’s called Flip Flopping. That’s all they do here, make a change, don’t enforce it and when they do enforce it everyone screams, then they change it back… Gov’t, they got no B*LL$.
Keeping the speed limit at 100km/h on an Express Way is the right thing to do. They need to increase patrols and enforce the existing rules rather than reducing the speed limit, which penalizes everyone including law-abiding drivers.
“In March, Brig. Mohammed Saad Al Kharji, director of the Traffic Department, said the move had helped cut the number of major accidents on the road. It also made it easier and safer for vehicles to join the main flow of traffic on the expressway from adjoining slip roads and service roads.”
Yet people complained, and, contrary to the best interest of the population of Qatar, the safety measures were scrapped.
Genius.
Yeah, this to me was like a big WHAA?
the change made things better, but yeah we don’t like better.
I never thought I’d say this, but I agree it was too slow on the highways with that speed limit.
Somebody please tell me how this was a smart idea ? to implement the 100 kmph speed limit ? the 80kmph, although slow for an “express highway” did make the road safer….. :-/
And reducing the speed limit to 30km/h would make it safer still; most accidents would be survivable.
No one likes to admit the explicit trade-off between convenience and human lives, but that is the reality when it comes to operating motor vehicles in the first place. 80 km/h is silly for an expressway.
It’s so congested that we shouldn’t regard it as an expressway. Consequently the speed limit should reflect that. Going back up to 100 is daft.
A senior policing official commented: “We confirm the road will reinstated at 100km. Although the reduced speed limit reduced serious and fatal incidents, we have mulled it over and find it acceptable that 10 people should die each year in return for greater convienience of senior officials. We also believe it will reduce administrative costs, in line with new budget cutbacks, because it will reduce speeding infringements, which have mounted up over the last few months when the speed was reduced. Of course we are hoping that those acceptable 10 deaths do not come from the families of senior officials or we might have to reduce the speed again”.
speed limit? What speed limit?
There’s no speed limit in this country!
II don’t think everyone actually knew the limit had been reduced to 80kmh, certainly not in the mornings and evenings when only avoidance tactics and earphones ensure one gets through the days commute unscathed,
Raising the speed limit to 100km/h is fine for private vehicles but the limit for commercial vehicles should be kept at 80km/h and the number of speed cameras should be increased. Then surely the accident rate will come down as most of the accidents are caused by commercial vehicles like buses and pickups.