Colonel Mohammed Radhi Al Hajri, Director of Traffic Awareness Department, addressing a press conference at the department’s headquarters in Madinat Khalifa.
The Traffic Department’s ‘Accident-free Summer’ awareness campaign has made roads further safe as number of traffic violations has reduced significantly.
The cases of violations of overtaking from right side has declined by over 68 percent violations in 2018 compared to 2017, said a senior official.
Similarly, the cases of driving without a licence recorded a decline of 16.1 percent while the violations of parking in places reserved for people with special needs decreased by 22.4 percent.
“The number of violations of traffic rules declined significantly last year because of the campaign,” said Director of Traffic Awareness Department Colonel Mohammed Radhi Al Hajri while addressing a press conference to announce the launch of new edition of the campaign from the beginning of next month.
Al Hajri made a comparative review between 2017 and 2018, explaining the impact of the ‘Accident-free Summer’ campaign held last year, on the decline in the number of violations.
“The General Directorate of Traffic is set to launch a month-long traffic awareness campaign, from July 1 to August 1, 2019, under the title ‘Accident-free Summer’ for the year 2019, in order to raise public awareness of the rules of traffic safety and safe driving,” said Al Hajri.
He said that the campaign of this year will focus on raising awareness on a number of violations including driving without a licence, overtaking from right side, using mobile phone while driving, parking in the places reserved for people with special needs, obstructing traffic by stopping in the yellow box among many more.
“The violation of stopping in the yellow box will invite a fine of QR500.” said Al Hajri. He said that the campaign activities will be carried out in cooperation with the traffic departments and all media and through coordination with the “Talaa” department to detect the violation of stopping in the yellow box, as the cameras on the intersections monitor this violation, which hinder traffic and cannot be reconciled.
The press conference was held by the Traffic Awareness Department at the General Directorate of Traffic. The press conference was attended by Col. Nasser Darman Al Hajri, Assistant Director General of Traffic, and officers of the General Directorate of Traffic.
Colonel Radhi Al Hajri said that the ‘Accident-free Summer’ campaign, will focus this year on field awareness through inspection campaigns in cooperation with the of Traffic Patrols Department and the Public Relations Department.
The main goal of the campaign is to educate the public on the rules of traffic safety and safe driving, with a focus on drivers, especially from the youth, he added.
During the campaign there will be the distribution of awareness publications, guidance to drivers in the roads, commercial markets and streets, the internal areas of Doha, and the external areas in including Dukhan.
Captain Abdul Wahid Ghareeb Al Anzi, Traffic Awareness Officer, briefed on the role of the media in instilling awareness and traffic culture, especially among young people. He stressed that the local media are making every effort in carrying out its social responsibilities in support of traffic awareness efforts to achieve the State’s vision to reduce accidents and traffic violations and to provide maximum safety on the road.
