Qatar tops GCC in curbing traffic accidents

Doha: Qatar ranks first among the Gulf countries in the percentage of decrease in traffic accidents, followed by the UAE, a senior official said yesterday.

“Among the important ways to curb traffic accidents is to increase traffic awareness among residents, and the Ministry of Interior (MoI) succeeded in this in collaboration with several authorities concerned," said Brig Mohamed Saad Al Kharji, Director General of the Traffic Department at the MoI.

Al Kharji was speaking during a workshop for authorities concerned to the National Traffic Safety Strategy (NTSS 2013-2022) to discuss what they achieved in the first phase of the strategy.

The workshop was held yesterday at Hilton Hotel Doha and organised by the National Traffic Safety Committee (NTSC).

Qatar was ranked 49th internationally in a United Nations report for achieving sustainable development.

It was also ranked first among Arab countries in achieving goals related to safety and security and the efficiency of banks among others, said Prof Dr Kim Jraiw, Manager, NTSC.

Among the important projects that the Public Works Authority ‘Ashghal’ is working on with regard to NTSS is building a modern road network to meet Qatar's projects for World Cup 2022 and Qatar National Vision 2030.

For the strategy plan for 2013 -2016, only 13 out of a total 34 plans under the strategy remain unfinished and are expected to be completed by July next year.

“The main authorities like Ashghal, Mowasalat, Ministry of Public Health, Ministry of Education and Traffic Department have achieved 102 projects and only 64 plans remain to be completed by June 2017, said Brig. Mohammed Abdullah Al Maliki, Secretary-General, National Traffic Safety Committee (NTSC).

He said that “the number of authorities which joined the NTSS increased from 13 to 30, and the number of plans increased to more than 250.