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Maneesh Bakshi
Doha
The National Traffic Safety Committee (NTSC) has achieved over 70 percent of its target of bringing down road accident deaths to 130 per annum by 2022, according to NTSC General Secretary Brig Mohamed al Malki.
Speaking to Qatar Tribune on the sidelines of Smart Parking Qatar conference in Doha on Monday, Malki said effective implementation of road safety measures such as better road design, traffic awareness among road users and efficient rescue operation have led to a drop in the fatality rate to an impressive 7.5 per 100,000 population in 2016 as against the target of six fixed for 2022.
On road safety progress in Qatar, 2015 has been identified as the base year for the 2016-2022 action plan. The number of traffic accident deaths in 2015 was 227 and the target was to bring it down to 130 by 2022 ” six per 100,000 people.
In 2016, Qatar has achieved an impressive reduction of 49 fatalities (178) compared with 2015 (227).
Malki said the NTSC has joined the United Nations Road Safety Collaboration as a full member to promote road safety.
Ever since the NTSC started working in 2013, it has brought down the number of road accidents per 100,000 people from 14 in 2013 to 7.5 in 2016 despite the steady increase in number of vehicles on the road year by year.
He said major road projects will be completed within two to three years, thereby providing smooth flow of traffic which will certainly contribute to reducing accidents significantly.
"Although, we have fixed a target of six fatalities per 100,000 by 2022, we will certainly strive to bring down the figures to close to our vision of zero deaths," he added.
