DOHA: With roads and streets across the city witnessing heavy traffic after opening of schools and offices last week, the traffic authorities have launched a campaign to catch erring motorists.
The campaign has its focus on the most common violations like overtaking from right, use of mobile phones while driving, failure to fasten seat belts and wrong parking.
The patrolling teams deployed across the city have caught 428 violations since the launch of the campaign only related to overtaking from right, according to data released by the General Directorate of Traffic at the Ministry of Interior yesterday.
Dubbing it a bad road habit causing many accidents, the authorities had raised the fine for this violation from QR500 to QR1000.
Traffic inspectors also caught 309 violations for failure to fasten seat belts and 52 violations involving the use of mobile phones while driving, the ministry said on its Twitter account.
“ The General Directorate of Traffic since last week (Sunday) has launched a campaign to catch motorists who adopt mistaken road behaviours,” Major Jaber Mohamed Rashid Odaiba, Assistant Director, Media and Traffic Awareness Department told The Peninsula yesterday.
He said that the campaign will continue for one month.
“ It has coincided with opening of schools. We have launched the campaign to curb violations of the traffic rules, with an increase in traffic on the roads,” he added.
The inspectors have also registered 52 violations related to parking in spaces reserved for the disabled. Fine for this violation has also been raised to QR1,000 from QR500.
Odaiba said these violations were caught by police patrols in different areas in the city and its outskirts during their inspection campaigns.
“People commit mistakes like overtaking from right because they don’t want to wait in the traffic jam.
“Some use mobile phone while waiting for other vehicles to move and some others move right and left creating accidents and traffic jams, especially at intersections and roundabouts,” said Odaiba.
The Ministry on its social media channels has been continuously advising motorists against the use mobile phones while driving, saying this habit can lead to accidents and endanger the lives of the user as well as others on the road.
It also causes the vehicle to slow down while approaching intersections, signal, schools, hospitals and other public places.
“Motorists should also stick to speed limit and other regulations, which will help in achieving traffic safety and smooth flow of traffic,” said Odaiba.
During summer, the department had launched a crackdown on motorists using mobile phones and those not fastening seat belts.
The summer months were chosen for the crackdown because it was easier to identify and stop violators due to less traffic.
