New truck ban proves to be ineffective
Trucks are still a common sight on most of Doha roads and they still block traffic a month after the opening of the Temporary Truck Route (TTR) on the Salwa-Lusail Road.
The road stretching 41km was opened on December 1 aimed at improving the traffic flow in Doha and diverts incoming trucks transit traffic between the north and south of the country out of the city.
A number of motorists have complained that they are yet to see any major changes with the traffic congestion and that the trucks are still visible almost on every road.
"Trucks are still everywhere and can be seen doing all sorts of violations on the roads in the city," said Michael Mutebi a car driver in Doha.
"Last Thursday a truck delivering some products near National Exchange in Old Al Ghanim closed down a full lane and blocked traffic for about 30 minutes in the evening rush hours," he said.
Residents said that they could still see trucks even on small roads in the residential areas as they tried to bypass the traffic on main roads themselves.
Some truck drivers who spoke to The Peninsula said they didn't know about the new road that was opened for their vehicles and that they have not been intercepted by any traffic police officer to ask why they were on Doha roads.
Trucks were also still operating on Doha roads because most of them where having their work in the city, like delivering building materials on projects under construction inside the city while others carried goods for sale for ware houses and shopping centres inside Doha.
"It would be impossible for us to do our job and stay in business if we didn't use the roads in the city. The rules ought to be respected and we try our best but this rule has not been well explained to us," said a truck driver in Old Airport area who preferred anonymity.
Brigadier Mohammed AbdulRahman Marafia, Director of Traffic and Road Safety, said during the roads launch that an awareness campaign had been launched to keep heavy trucks out of the city and that authority will book trucks plying the road without permission. The fine for this violation is QR500, he said.
Some residents also complained that even the stipulated QR500 fine for violating trucks was too small as some companies will just factor the cost of the fine and the cost of doing business and take the risks of going through the city roads. [The Peninsula]
Not all trucks that worsen the traffic & the congestion especially in doha downtown but particulary labour buses.The Enforcement Agency is incompetent/unable to handle the situation. Did you see any traffic police lately to direct the traffic flows across doha area?The truck still continuing fill the streets.Those police are sitting their asses on their land cruiser and doing nothing except misjudgment during incident/accident. MOI should deputized their personnel as early as 5am so they can avle to see what's happening on the road street before dawn.#annoying #onlyinqatar
This is very true. The trucks are a real danger on the roads and they intentionally damage vehicles. I myself am a victim of a truck that damaged my car intentionally and I was denied justice by the police. When I asked for the traffic monitoring camera video to prove my innocence, the policeman told me it was not working. Since my car was under full cover insurance, I stopped my argument and accepted my mistake by paying a fine of QAR100 instead of wasting my energy and resources.
I agree Mary, enforcement is a key issue here and many other aspects, particularly those related to traffic.
The ban is ineffective because there is no enforcement happening - much like many other traffic laws