The overall positive perception trends of driving in Qatar outweigh the negative ones in the most recent Qatar Road Safety Monitor.

The survey commissioned by QIC Insured, the retail arm of QIC - Qatar’s flagship insurer delivers encouraging perception trends of Qatar’s motorists about infrastructure, overall driving enjoyment, commute time and driving behaviour that are often linked to the cause of accidents in Qatar.

The survey, which was conducted by research firm YouGov, is based on the views of a representative sample of the residents of Qatar.

Survey highlights

Majority of the respondents (64 per cent) ‘strongly agree’/‘agree’ that state that road infrastructure has improved over the last six months, leading to shorter commute time (58 per cent) and more driving enjoyment (46 per cent). Only (38 per cent) of the respondents believe that dangerous driving may have increased over the last six months.

There has been a marginal improvement in the trend for distracted driving as mentioned by (80 per cent) of respondents. Speeding on the roads too appears to have decreased (64 per cent).  The trend for abrupt changing of lanes too seems to have dropped to (67 per cent) as stated by the respondents of the survey. However, the perception trend for tailgating appears unchanged over the last six months (76 per cent).

Salem Al Mannai, deputy group president & CEO- QIC Mena, said: “It is indeed encouraging to observe that most of the dimensions included in the survey have developed in the right direction, which can be attributed to the various initiatives taken by the ministry for improving road safety in the State of Qatar.  We are proud to be associated with this unique, long term perception study, as it demonstrates the efforts of QIC Insured to actively support the creation of safer roads, in line with Qatar’s National Road Safety Strategy & ‘Qatar National Vision 2030.”

“While the observed trends are mainly positive, further efforts in education, enforcement and infrastructure improvement are needed by all stakeholders, public and private entities and media to inculcate the culture of road safety in Qatar. This means working collaboratively across all elements of the road transport system and recognizing that everybody has a role to play in improving road safety. It would also lay the foundations for a safe road transport system that will benefit future generations,” he added.

The study will be repeated every six months with the next scheduled release in the third quarter of 2017. – TradeArabia News Service