The statistics of General Directorate of Traffic for 2019 show a decrease in the total number of traffic accidents by 2.8 percent compared to 2018.
They also indicate that most of traffic accidents, accounting for 97 percent recorded in 2019, were minor accidents without injuries, while the accidents of severe injuries accounted for (0.3 percent) only.
The road accident deaths accounted for 0.1 percent of all traffic accidents. Deaths in road accidents decreased in 2019 by 13 percent.
The data was released yesterday during a press conference organised by the Traffic Department at the department’s headquarters. It was attended by Major General Mohamed Saad Al Kharji (pictured), Director General of Traffic, and a number of directors of departments and officers.
Al Kharji said that the biggest challenge at the present time was to reduce the number of run over accidents, which constitute 28.6 percent, from the statistics of last year, affirming that the Ministry of Interior and partner bodies will work hard to reduce this rate and maintain what has been achieved in the remaining indicators.
He said that speed and not wearing seat belts were two main reasons for traffic deaths and called on motorists to adhere to traffic rules, regulations and speed limits on the roads.
“The total traffic deaths in 2019 were 154 deaths, while 168 deaths occurred in 2018. This indicates a decrease in death in accidents in 2019 at a rate of 4.3 percent compared to 2018 and decrease in the death rate per 100,000 people in 2019 by 10.2 percent compared to the previous year,” said Brigadier Ibrahim Saad Al Sulaiti, Head of the Statistical Analysis Office at the Ministry of Interior.
The intensity of traffic accidents decreased in 2019 by 16.2 percent, and the traffic accident severity index decreased by 15.8 percent compared to the same indicator registered at the end of 2018, he added.
Al Sulaiti pointed out that the traffic situation improved in general in 2019 compared to 2018, despite the increase in the number of vehicles by 4.3 percent and the issuance of driving licence increased at a rate of 5.5 percent.
Brigadier Al Sulaiti compared the traffic accident indicators for every 100,000 people registered in the State of Qatar with their global counterparts. He pointed out that all of them were lower than global averages. The accident death rate for every 100,000 people in the State of Qatar recorded 4.4 deaths, which is less than the global average.
It is also less than the rate recorded in the high income countries by 47 percent.
Similarly, the traffic death rate per 100,000 vehicles in Qatar is lower than the global average by 85.5 percent, traffic accident severity index in Qatar is lower than the global average by 46.7%.
He said that all road traffic death rates recorded in the State of Qatar in 2019 indicate a significant decrease from global indicators and ratios. The head of the Statistical Analysis Office added that there was a decrease in the number of traffic accident deaths in the last ten years by (31.3%), as well as a decrease in the traffic death rate per 100,000 people during the same period by 60.7%.
He said that most of the people who died because of traffic accidents were males amounting (91.6%) compared to (8.4%) females. Almost half of the people who died in traffic accidents, at a rate of 48.1%, were between 20 to 39 years old. He noted that the drivers’ deaths accounted for 45.5% with 70 cases, while the number of passenger deaths was 40 cases by 26%, and pedestrian deaths amounted (44) cases at a rate of (28.6%) of the total traffic deaths.
The number of Qataris who died in traffic accidents reached 42 persons, at a rate of 27.3% of the total traffic deaths of 154 deaths. It decreased by 6.7% compared to 2018. The number of the deceased from the Arab nationalities recorded 31 cases, by 20.1%, while the remaining 81 deaths that accounted 52.6% were foreign expatriates.