Qatar’s tally of traffic accident deaths decreased slightly
Qatar’s tally of traffic accidents deaths in the first six months of the year has slightly decreased compared with that of the same period in 2009, traffic authorities have said.
According to the figure, 101 people died in road accidents in the Arabian Gulf country in 2010, down from 104 last year.
A vast majority of the fatalities occurred in accidents resulting from over-speeding while two people died after drivers jumped traffic lights, traffic department officials said, quoted by Qatari daily The Peninsula.
The drop in the death toll in the first half of 2009 was the result of preventive measures taken by the traffic department and road safety awareness drives, the authorities said.
Overall, the number of road accidents fell 9.6 per cent in the country in the first half of 2010 to 2,319 from 2,564 in the corresponding period in 2009.
The incidence of drivers jumping traffic lights has come down by 20 per cent in the first six months of 2010 over the corresponding period last year.
In 96.2 percent of the accidents, no injuries were reported while those causing minor injuries accounted for 1.8 per cent of the total.
Accidents that caused severe injuries accounted for three percent of the total while those that resulted in deaths had a one percent share in the total, the officials said.
Overall traffic violations are showing a downward trend in the country, said the department.
The number of court cases had dropped significantly, 37.7 per cent, in the first half of this year over the first half of 2009, going down from 3,984 cases in the first six months of last year to 2,482 this year.
