People should be made to take a driving test before being allowed a license.
By lullabelle •
Is there such thing as a highway code here? Many drivers are ignorant, impatient and rude. There is no common courtesy on the roads and no apparent grasp of how roundabouts or indicators work! You need 360 degee vision and good brakes to drive in Doha. They just keep on churning out licenses to people who may have never took any form of test in their lives. To make the roads safer, test the drivers first. It's not rocket science.
the expats that need driving lessons..a rather large percentage are the locals...At least that's what I've experienced. I do wish that everyone with a large SUV wouldn't think that being big gives them the right to drive like they choose on a particular day. And..yes, the roundabouts are the worst with the cars that drift lanes, regardless of whether another car is in their way..or cut you off from exiting even IF you are in the inside lane and have signalled that you are getting out of the roundabout. And of course..there's the speed issue, flashing lights, hazard lights for fog, cutting people off..etc...
I wonder why the authorities approved the driving school to shorten the duration of training. 3 years ago when i get into driving school the duration is 1 hour for 50 days. Nowadays i was surprised when i registered my girls, the fee was 2100 QR- 40 minutes a day for 40 days. Imagine? And one of my girls was passed in one test for just 20 days training, my other girl passed one test for 35 days. I don't think they had enough training. I asked them if they tried to went to the souk area where it is crowded and two way lanes and they said, they were just trained to the road test area. So now they are driving each car and i am always worried about them.
Qatar only exchanges license for countries that are approved.
I just wish that they would make it more difficult to get a license.
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[img_assist|nid=63830|title=Gemini|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=|height=0]
in Doha before they issued me with my FIRST Qatari licence. Meaning, they wouldn't convert my SA one....
"if you don't like the heat... get out of the kitchen... but stop trying to fan the flames before you leave... it will burn you on the a** as you go through the doorway...." ME
what do you mean "had to be retested"? when? before you got your qatari licence? or after some certain period of time driving in Doha? because all I did is my vision test, and then I spent exactly 15 minutes in the Traffic Dpmt to exchange my canadina driver licence for the qatari one. That was it... but i am wondering if some driving test is coming after certain amount of years in Doha.. or so...
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14 years and had to be retested here in Doha...
"if you don't like the heat... get out of the kitchen... but stop trying to fan the flames before you leave... it will burn you on the a** as you go through the doorway...." ME
People are tested before they get a Drivers license in Qatar. People with Drivers License from for example India, Pakistan, Philippines, Malaysia, North Africa etc. all need to take a drivers test before they actually get a drivers license here. Westerners don't need it.