Minister of Interior HE Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani, Municipal Affairs and Urban Planning Minister HE Abdurrahman bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz al-Thani, Education and Higher Education Minister HE Saad bin Ibrahim al-Mahmoud, Awqaf and Islamic Affairs Minister HE Ahmed bin Abdullah al-Marri and traffic and Ashghal officials at the formal launch of the National Road Safety Strategy yesterday. PICTURE: Shaji Kayamkulam
By Ramesh Mathew/Staff Reporter
Qatar yesterday launched a major drive aimed at reducing traffic accidents and enhancing safety of road users in the next one decade.
The 10-year National Road Safety Strategy (NRSS), which has all major ministries and many of the country’s top level institutions as stakeholders, provides a long-term vision of the mission to reduce road accidents, serious injuries and deaths due to crashes in Qatar.
The strategy, launched under the patronage of Minister of State for Interior Affairs HE Sheikh Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani, who is also the chairman of the National Road Safety Committee (NRSC), emphasises that the country cannot remain complacent over its improvements in road safety in recent years and ensure that more is done to protect the country’s residents from any untoward occurrences.
The strategy is designed to save at least 800 lives and prevent 2,000 serious injuries over the next 10 years.
Acknowledging road safety as a major concern of the country, the Cabinet Resolution No 33/2010, endorsed by HH the Heir Apparent Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, stressed constituting the NRSC under the patronage of HE Sheikh Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani.
The strategy lays its foundations for a safe road transport system that will benefit future generations. The NTSC and its sub-committees will monitor and oversee the implementation of the strategy through Traffic Safety Action Plan (TSAP) 2013-2017.
The strategy’s partners include the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Municipality and Urban Planning, Supreme Council for Health, Supreme Education Council, Supreme Council of Family Affairs, the Public Works Authority (Ashghal), Qatar University, Qatar Media Corporation, General Secretariat for Development Planning among other entities.
As part of the ambitious exercise, the NTSC will launch a series of road safety programmes and campaigns in the next five years. Under the programme, a managers group will manage the delivery of actions while working groups will be set up to deliver actions that need to be co-ordinated with other agencies and stakeholders.
Each agency is required to report regularly on progress in delivering actions through the managers group to the NTSC.
The NRSS, it is understood, contains about 200 individual plans, each aimed at reducing traffic injuries and resultant deaths, to be delivered over the next five years. Based on the outcome of the first five years of planning, an updated National Traffic Action Plan (NTAP) will be released after the period.
At the launching ceremony, the president and managing director of Ashghal, Nasser Ali al-Mawlawi, affirmed the launch of NRSS was a major step in the right direction. The senior engineer said the strategy set the road map towards an ambitious long-term vision to develop a safe road transport system that protects all road users.
Al–Mawlawi also emphasised the need for all institutions and communities to join in efforts to achieve the goals of the strategy.
Besides Interior Minister HE Sheikh Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani, who formally launched the strategy, Minister of Education and Higher Education HE Saad bin Ibrahim al-Mahmoud, Minister of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs HE Ahmed bin Abdullah al-Marri and Minister of Municipal Affairs and Urban Planning HE Sheikh Abdurrahman bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz al-Thani also attended the launching ceremony.
Pedestrian overbridges on the way
Ashghal is identifying “black spots” in the country where there are more road accidents than the other areas in Qatar, a senior official said yesterday at the launching of the National Road Safety and Strategy. When Gulf Times pointed out that the National Traffic Safety Committee (NTSC) in its annual report on road accidents in the country had recently highlighted the necessity of setting up pedestrian overbridges in many parts of the country, Ashghal Road Operations and Maintenance Manager Yusuf Abdulrahman el-Emadi said the Public Works Authority had embarked on a major initiative to identify accident-prone areas which he referred to as “black spots” and once the study is completed, efforts would be initiated to build pedestrian overbridges, which would help reduce road deaths. Even though the official did not specify the areas where bridge would be built, al-Emadi said the locations included the Industrial Area.
