Qatar saw a significant rise in new vehicle registrations in May. The total number of registered new vehicles stood at 6,535 in May 2022, recording a growth of 39.2 percent compared to same month in 2021, according to data released by the Planning and Statistics Authority (PSA).
The registration of private vehicles accounted 70 percent of the total new vehicles which stood at 4,574, registering a rise of 45.1 percent on yearly basis and a decline of 2.9 percent on monthly basis.
The registration of private motorcycles was 685 in May 2022 compared to 234 in the previous year and 1048 in April 2021, registering a rise of 192.7 percent and 34.6 percent on year-on-year and month-on-month basis respectively. Out of the total new vehicles, the private new motorcycles accounted for 10 percent.
The rise in vehicle registrations is a sign that the country’s economy is recovering as more cars are being bought and sold. The registration of new private transport vehicles stood at 960 in May which formed 2 percent of the total new vehicles in May 2022. The registration of trailers witnessed a rise of 110 percent and 7.7 percent annually and monthly respectively in the review period. The month of May also saw a rise in registration of heavy equipment as the total number of registered heavy vehicles stood at 182 in May 2022, recording a growth of 15.9 percent on monthly basis.
According to figures in the report, the clearing of vehicles processes stood at 112,072, showing an annual increase of 11.6 percent and monthly decline of 0.6 percent. The renewal of vehicles stood at 58,506, seeing a rise of 6.3 percent rise yearly. The transfer of ownership accounted for 28,161 vehicles, an increase of 23.8 percent month-on-month basis. The total number of traffic violations registered during May 2022 were 238,176, witnessing a yearly rise of 52.9 percent and monthly increase of 14.4 percent.
Out of the total traffic violations registered in May 2022, included speed limit violation (radar) which accounted for 76 percent, while stand and wait rules and obligations violations were 7 percent. The speed limit violation (radar) of vehicles was 180,390. There were 5,913 traffic signal violations in May 2022. The violations registered vary from having no number plates, covering the number plates, to making loud noise and other serious traffic violations.
United Development Company (UDC), the master developer of The Pearl and Gewan islands, announced recently that nearly 90 million vehicles entered The Pearl Island since 2016. According to 2021 figures, this constitutes an increase of 77 percent compared to the vehicle influx in 2016, while UDC is expecting to receive a significant 19 million vehicles by end of 2022 based on traffic data collected thus far.
The latest traffic data shows that from January till May 2022 alone, recorded 8 million vehicle entries to The Pearl Island, compared to full-year figures of 9 million vehicles in 2016. Numbers are still expected to increase even more in the second half of 2022, with an even more promising ending by Q4 following the much-awaited FIFA 2022 World Cup.
