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Satyendra Pathak
Doha
Sweden will share its 'Vision Zero' traffic expertise with Qatar to bring down the number of road accident-related deaths to zero in the country, Swedish Ambassador to Qatar HE Ewa Polano said on Wednesday.
Talking to reporters during a roundtable meeting in Doha, Polano said that a formal agreement between the two countries to launch 'Vision Zero' initiatives in Qatar will be signed soon.
Qatar has already implemented some of the Vision Zero initiatives on its roads, the envoy said, adding that signing the agreement will pave the way for complete implementation of the initiatives in the country.
Pioneered by Sweden, Vision Zero is a multi-national road traffic safety project that aims to achieve a highway system with no fatalities or serious injuries in road traffic.
Sweden launched its Vision Zero initiative in 1997 and today has one of the lowest fatality rates of 2.7 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants. In comparison, Qatar has a fatality rate of 7.5 deaths per 100,000.
Qatari authorities have shown keen interest in learning from Sweden's efforts to cut the number of road deaths to zero, the envoy said, adding the Ministry of Interior (MoI) has already roped in many public and private Swedish entities to use their expertise in various traffic projects."Swedish National Road Consulting (SweRoad), managed by the Swedish Transport Administration, is already in talks with various state stakeholders in Qatar to implement 'Vision Zero' initiatives in the country," she said.
Citing a letter from MoI, the envoy said that the National Traffic Safety Committee (NTSC) has also hired the services of two Swedish experts for three months to work on new traffic regulations in the country.
The two experts will be joining the ministry by the end of this year, she said.
While one expert will study the causes of traffic congestions, she said, the other will work on innovative ideas to increase traffic safety awareness among the residents.
The experts will make recommendations based on their findings to the ministry, she said. On the participation of Swedish private firms in Qatar's traffic projects, she said that as many as 46 sophisticated speed cameras have been installed on Qatar roads by a Swedish private firm with more of such cameras are also in the process to be installed.
The envoy added that the same company is also running a pilot project in Qatar to showcase the efficiency of invisible speed cameras which are embedded in civilian cars.
Giving details, a representative of the company said,"The pilot project, which began almost three months ago, has achieved great success in catching speed limit violators. As the speed camera is invisible, the chances of catching the violators, who generally reduce speed near the fixed visible cameras, are very high."
The concept of invisible moving camera has evinced much interest among the traffic officials in Qatar, the official said, adding that 10 such camera-embedded vehicles are expected to be running on the roads by the end of this year.
SweRoad Managing Director Jonas Hermanson, who also addressed the meeting, said that talks are also on with Qatari authorities to follow the Swedish model of training in the driving schools in Qatar.
"There is an immense need to include new methods of training at driving schools in Qatar. Sweden has achieved great success in reducing the number of traffic violations and accidents by introducing revised methods to train drivers. Talks are on to provide the same kind of training in Qatar," Hermanson said.
