People seeking driver’s license need to learn about how a car functions and its mechanical parts as the traffic department has plans to introduce theoretical tests along with assessing driving skills. A driver’s licence is not enough to drive a car and help maintain road safety. “You need to know the basics of how a vehicle works and its mechanical parts to avoid an accident,” said the Director of the Department. Brigadier Mohamed Saad Al Kharji was speaking at Qatar University on Tuesday at a road safety awareness campaign. The theoretical tests are important and would test the general awareness of one who is seeking a driver’s license. Al Kharji said plans were afoot to install more radars, especially on highways, as motorists decreased the speed when nearing radars and sped faster than permitted after crossing them. “We have been noticing this dangerous trend and so, plan to install radars at short distances on highways. This way, motorists would not be able to break the speed limit. They will be forced to abide by the speed limits,” the official said. He was answering questions after delivering the lecture. According to him, the role of parents is important in instilling the sense of road safety among children. “If a child, for example, sees his father drive recklessly, he would ape him when he grows up,” said Al Kharji. That is why it is important that one should drive responsibly when a child is in the car. Asked about imams being roped in the road safety campaign, he said the cooperation with them was still on. “Actually, people tend to listen to imams.” Replying to another question, he said a traffic policeman could simply note down the car number if he saw its driver not using seat belt, for instance, and penalize him without stopping the vehicle to inform him of the violation. Al Kharji said the number of road accidents here had dropped considerably after the new traffic law was passed and casualties minimised. The success story of the new law in Qatar has traveled overseas. “We are getting delegations from many countries. They want to know how we have controlled road accidents,” he pointed out. In fact, countries like the UAE and Egypt have already amended their traffic laws to incorporate some key clauses which Qatar introduced to its new traffic law in 2007. http://thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=Local_News&subsection=Qatar+News&month=November2009&file=Local_News2009111943613.xml

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