The Traffic Department at the Ministry of Interior has announced that it will hold an intensified campaign during the month of Ramadan to ease traffic congestion in coordination with the Lekhwiya and Al Fazaa. The campaign will mainly target areas known to be heavily congested. An official from the traffic department said the campaign will use new techniques to ease traffic in bottle-neck areas. During Ramadan there is heavy traffic at certain times of the day due to the large number of shoppers who go out to do their Ramadan shopping as well as people who visit relatives and friends during the holy month. Officials expect traffic during Ramadan this year to be much smoother than in the previous years because it does not coincide with the academic semesters of schools. The Traffic Department has fixed specific hours during which large trucks, trolleys and construction vehicles are not allowed in Doha and other cities in the country. The timings are as follows: 7am to 9am, 12.30pm to 2pm and 6pm to 12 midnight. The official said that one of the most undesirable behaviours witnessed on the streets of Doha was that many residents didn’t leave home early for work and ended up clogging important streets in the city, causing traffic jams, and then they drive back home at very high speeds, threatening the safety of other motorists. Another example of some of the negative characteristic of driving in the streets of Doha was that many young people drive buggies on the streets. Many of these buggy riders are not aware of driving rules and safety measures that should be taken, and they put their lives and the lives of other road users in danger. The Traffic Department has asked all residents in Doha to be cooperative with the traffic police during this campaign and wished them a blissful Ramadan. http://thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=Local_News&subsection=Qatar+News&month=August2009&file=Local_News2009082315318.xml

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