By Sidi Mohamed
DOHA: The cases of stunt driving and drifting see huge spike during the Holy Ramadan. These drifters and stunt drivers usually come out on roads at night between 3am and 7am, creating nuisance and noise for people in residential area.
Many people have complained about drifting and have asked police to increase campaigns and patrols against such drivers who put lives of other drivers at risk.
“The cases of stunt driving and drifting rise during Ramadan. We do not have any specific campaign for such drivers but we keep check on them by regular campaigns,” Major Jaber Mohamed Rashid Odaiba, Assistant Director of Media & Traffic Awareness Department, told The Peninsula.
“Such drivers can be seen in the streets between 3am before Fajr prayer till 7am. This is the time when people take rest at their homes. They should respect others and should not create problem for people who are fasting. Everyone can see the marks of their drifting tyres in intersections and roundabout,” he added
“The month of Ramadan is a time for calmness. People need to take rest at their homes, but these riders creating such sounds disturb our sleep at night,” said a resident in Al Wakra. “The authorities should have a specific campaign to stop this nuisance of stunt driving,” he said.
The police patrols are in the street to monitor such things especially in residential areas, and anyone caught drifting doing such prohibited things will be violated depending on the act.
Families urged to take care of kids
The violations vary from seizure of the vehicle for one to three months, and some cases are transferred to the public prosecution if the motorist has repeated the violations multiple times or if he has hurt or damaged the public property. Erring motorists are fined around QR3,000 depending on the violations type.
“If the motorist has exposed people’s life’s to danger, his vehicle will be booked and will be transfer to public prosecution,” said Major Odaiba.
He said drifting by cars is more dangerous than drifting in bikes because of comparatively bigger size and also the noise from cars is more loud than that of bikes.
The problem of dealing with such people that they move to another area, creating annoying sounds when we start a patrolling in that area.
The Ministry of Interior urged families to take care of children, who tend to play outside their home when parents are busy praying or preparing for Eid. Playing outside on the roads late at nights will expose them to traffic accidents due to harsh driving.
Parents should only allow their children to play in designated areas and not play on internal roads in residential area. The ministry also advised motorists to be cautious on its official facebook account./
The Peninsula
