Stating the obivious... How to negotiate R/As

check again!

that you have a 20/20 vision. Lol!

A new one to add into the disgrace of this country's roads: yesterday I saw a guy wearing the thobe (Qatari national dress) driving on the Corniche (near by the museum) towards the airport, playing with his iPad (on top of the steering wheel), while driving!

We cannot argue that there was no evolution here!

The simple fact is that most people have no idea of negotiating a roundabout and changing lanes gradually...

The roads and traffic here do explain why most of the folks here are so religious ;)

Wala Lang, what i asked is how you negotiate with those roads & roundabouts

eeehhh dude, are you looking for the 'purpose'?

Most likely even those who have built this road cannot explain their 'purpose'..

It's kind of "Oops, I did it again" case..

jackmohan2007,

The "office in question" is part of the problem, otherwise "it" wouldn't appear on a newspaper the way it did.

I bring up the topic on the airport access road.

Has anybody driven to the airport, once you pass the signal, and drive towards the main terminal building on the left lane (3 lanes) and all of the sudden the road is narrowed to 2 lanes with a sort of a semi-roundabout (built a year or two ago) just to become a 3 lane again?

Can anybody explain me what was the purpose of narrowing the main access to an International Airport the way it was dangerously done with apparent no benefit, here in Doha?

I have learnt through experience here that each Roundabout has its own rules....

The office in question does not mention how to negotiate:

3 lane road that feeds into a 2 lane RA and a 3 lane RA feeding into a 2 lane road....

or what to do with a car nicely parked in the Roundabout!

QS, IMHO, they know very well what they are doing. And they simply don't care.It is all about "me, me me me ", who cares about the others. Furthermore, the blame game is still played to perfection.Why? Because it works. (here).

nomerci, I am sure lot of them don't know... after THEY violate the rule, they are still sure that they were right and you were wrong... lot of 'drivers' have no clue about traffic rules..

I even remember some discussion on QL about who has to yield while approaching uncontrolled intersection.. the comments were totally contradicting each other, people started fighting, and to come up with their own vision of the issue, and their own solutions.. whilst there is a clear law applicable for such situation, which lot of QLesr obviously weren't aware of

and these are QLers! people who are educated enough to use the computer and internet.. how about those poor 'drivers' who can hardly read and write, and who wasn't trained properly before giving them the driver license?

One idiot hit me while trying to round my car facing me, and jumping into MY lane! And guess what, he is the one who started screaming at me, and insisting to call the police! He was pretty much sure it is Ok to jump into my lane since he wants to round me from my right… I couldn’t believe it! Obviously, Police even didn’t ask any questions.. only to have a look at the scene was enough to understand that the driver is wrong.. and he still tried arguing..

how many times I am exiting main road and the driver on the service road doesn't let me do it, and he jumps in front of me, showing me that I am crazy since I don't yield him! He has no clue that he is the one who is crazy, as he is the one who has to yield me!

nomerci, you might be not aware of these 'little' issues ..:):) having a driver, I also wouldn't :)

Do you really believe that those people do not know better? Lol, that's actually funny!

I am wondering if anyone ever explained it to the potential drivers during their driving lessons? I bet, no one and never..

Let alone using common sense.. one have to have at least a bit of brain in order to use it.. but even someone doesn't have any, he still can be trained like a monkey, by explaining and repeating the task several times.. I am sure no one ever does it..

I am sure, lots of the accidents happen not only due to reckless driving, but lack of elementary awareness of the traffic rules.. only few people know that while approaching uncontrolled intersection they must yield to vehicle on thier right.. almost no one knows that while they are on the service road, they have to yield to the vehicle exiting from the main road.. and many other things.. I am almost sure, these simple rules have just never been delivered to some drivers, who on top of their unawareness has no brain to think it through by themselves whatsoever..

check again your comment after Odinah!

Odinah?

flor1212,

I was just clarifying your misunderstanding of Odinah2k4's comment but now you are also misunderstanding my comment so I give up on you ;)

or driving such R/A's and roads, not the way it was built?

Your interpretation comes after Odinah's comment, not before?

flor1212,

Odinah2k4 was asking why they build that way. Was that justified in the article?!

O_o

it was mentioned!

odinah2k4,

Lol... that's a very good point!

The most ridiculous example is the road entering to the airport. Just before arriving at the arrival area, the 3 lane road is suddenly interrupted by a 2 lane section and then it becomes 3 lane again!

This is the most ridicules example as this was the result of a deliberate "adjustment".

Sometimes I think that these people don't...

repeated comment

Ok i have a question for Mr. 'several years studying Qatar traffic'. What about those roads which has 3 lane roundabouts leading to 2 lane roads? or 3 lane roads leading to 2 lane roundabouts? coz after so many years of driving, i can't figure that one out

Needless to say that law enforcement here goes by nationality, relationship or familiarity with the person, very sad, nothing can be done

While entering on the R/A using the midlane I watched a Landcruiser (weird, ha??) coming from the right lane and cutting me off the way. And when I used my lights and car claxon to make the driver aware that there was somebody else on his/her side; the response was to increase it's vehicle speed and try to hit me against the inner border on the R/A. (or even other cars)

Since I had already visioned that something could happen I slightly pressed the brakes and the LC almost went into the inner border.

To my surprise the driver just accelerated even more and disappeared from the scene.

By the way all this happened in the "Eyes" of the authority with a patrol car in the R/A however not a single movement from them was perceived.

So in the end "Law Enforcement" is what we need regardless nationality, relationship, or familiarity with the person.

Regards!!

why some people stop in the right hand lane to meet their friends, blocking traffic and causing chaos....these people stun me every time I see it happening, what are they thinking (obviously they're not)!

no comments.

hms786002 ,

If you travel, you'll see the driving trends do vary from country (region) to country and Qatar does attract many substandard drivers!

I will not discuss further nationalities as it won’t be fair for the exceptions, but we all know what I meant.

I think they copied Dubai, dubai is the first to install Traffic signals over the roundabout!

behind this R/A thing? I mean who introduce this to this part of the world?

Motorists using along side road parking area can be stopped easily by constructing interlocks/hurdles every 50 meters... to prevent them from causing accidents, which is mostly seen the third line gets slow...

Yes F S, agree with you,

But education is the basic thing.

It needs only common sense and a lil bit of Patience! That’s what lacking here..

I agree with u, lot of people mess up in the roundabouts, irrespective of nationalities, it is due to sheer negligence, because when i asked one of my friends, he said "oh thats okay", it is sheer negligence nothing else, some of them wants to show that they are masters on the road,

It is being done by all, irrespective of nationalities, those who cares and respect the driving and the law will not do this.

Hms786002,

how about the idiots who start entering the roundabout on the right lane, pass to the middle and even sometimes to the left, just to come back to the middle and exit it again on the right, cutting the way to anyone who drives in the same lane!...

I wonder if in certain countries, they have marked roads or all drive chaotically on whatever empty spot they see?!

Of course it’s obvious that many people here have low driving standards.

My question is who certifies them to drive in Qatar?

And

Where are the authorities to enforce the rules? (Oh wait a minute, they are the first ones to give the worse examples).

Why don't they teach these before they give the driving license? Each day in a half an hour drive, i notice at least three incidents caused by people trying to turn left from middle lane and right lane. When i discuss it with one of my friend he told me the INSTRUCTOR NEVER TOOK HIM TO A ROUNDABOUT before his driving test. We got a lot of R/A here in this country and they are giving D/L to people without giving proper training in round about s.

Accidents have also been caused by motorists in the left lane going straight ahead..

As you approach a roundabout, if you want to take a left, U-turn or go straight, stay only in the left lane,

Roundabouts work if you do 1 lane change per exit you pass, but that requires people follow the road markings.

And that there are road markings.

I think we're abandoning roundabouts in favour of overpasses and sliproads - these will work better here.

It is obvious that people making such mistakes in Doha, i have seen many times right line vehicle cutting all the lanes and going to left, people should learn a lot including all.

The need of publishing articles with driving tips, which should be common sense, indicates how bad the driving standard is in Doha!

Those who issue driving licenses here, and those who (don’t) patrol the roads, are to blame!

i can give more better tips then him ...useless person :|