(file photo / Salim Matramkot)
DOHA: A sharp increase of 82 percent has been registered in traffic violations of all nature in May 2017 in Qatar when compared to April this year on month on month basis.
The traffic violations are of different nature including speeding, passing red light signal, violating traffic signs or instructions, non-renewal of registration or driving licenses etc.
The 41th edition of Qatar’s Monthly Statistics recently released by the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics for May 2017 indicates that the total number of traffic violations registered in April 2017 was 155,963 while it jumped to 283,832 in May 2017 registering an increase of 82 percent (MoM basis).
According to newly released statistics, if the number of traffic violations is compared with the number of traffic violations registered in the same month of the last year (May 2016), there is an increase of 99.6 percent in traffic violations.
The increase in incidents of traffic violations is directly linked with the increase in population and increase in number vehicles on the roads. Improved mechanism of the Traffic Department to catch all violations like installing mobile radars at various roads of the country is another important factor behind this increase.
In May, the population of Qatar also touched all time high crossing 2.7 million. It was 2,700,539 in May 2017 while it was counted 2,675,522 in April this year.
Alone in April, May this year as many as 17,106 new driving licenses were issued in Qatar. As many as 5835 driving licenses were issued in May 2017, and 6874 driving licenses in April this year to non-Qatari males, the monthly statistics bulletin reveals. The driving licenses issued to Qatari males, Qatari females and non-Qatari males in these two months are 4397.
With the increase in population and more driving licenses, the number of vehicles is also increasing every month. Only in May, April 2017, as many as 14,250 new vehicles were cleared.
As many as 7651 new vehicles were cleared in May 2017 and 6599 new vehicles were cleared in April 2017, according to the bulletin. The document further reveals an increase of 15.9 percent in registration of new vehicles of all kinds in the given period on MoM basis.
Like increase in traffic violations, traffic accidents also increased from 509 in April 2017 to 558 in May this year registering a 9.6percent increase. According to monthly statistics report of the ministry, Madinat Khalifa witnessed a 23.6 percent increase in May 2017 when compared to April 2017 (MoM basis) while Dukhan has witnessed a 17.4 percent decrease in the same period on MoM basis.
