Pedestrian killed by truck on Salwa Road
An African expatriate in Qatar got killed recently after a truck knocked him down on Salwa Road, one of the major roadways in the country.
His body has been moved to the mortuary in Hamad Medical Corporation, Gulf Times reported on Monday. However, it did not clearly mention the circumstances of the accident.
Qatar's streets and main roads have often been criticized for not being pedestrian-freindly. Major roads lack infrastructure for pedestrian crossings and briadges. Some roads do not have footpaths for pedestrians to move safely.
The pedestrian, an Ethiopian in his late 20s, was probably trying to cross the road in a hurry without judging the speed of oncoming traffic, eventually risking his life and the life of the motorists on the highway.
These kinds of accidents have been reported several times, however, nothing significant has been done to curb it yet.
Ashghal recently announced their plans to build 160 bridges before the 2022 FIFA World Cup kick off, but will pedestrians have to risk their lives trying to cross dangerous roads till then?
Qatar need bridges now
Opening of the first pedestrian crossing bridge in Industrial Area was truly another milestone, and surely Qatar needs to build more of those on a daily-basis to put a stop to pedestrians deaths.
This bridge will go a long way in reducing the number of pedestrian related accidents that often ends with serious injuries or even death.
It has been reported that most number of accidents involving pedestrians have occurred in the Industrial Area over the last one decade.
With every new road project, Qatar should also consider building new pedestrian bridges. Once the the bridges are ready, Qatar can even consider imposing fines on the jaywalkers.
Thoughts?
Good input by Massive , I agree my bro ,.................
there is no intention of saying pedestrians are not good or they dont have rights, my point is how to deal with them . there are so many peoples who walk, cross the road in proper manner and thinking of themselves & others as well. i was paused at that moment & doesn't know how to react or what to do , a loud horn behind continuously awaken me back , & that pedestrian knows very well that he was wrong so he ran away taking more risk and crossing the down road at other end
When am driving am always looking for pedestrians in my peripheral vision cause I know they are somewhere there and always try to drive at a speed that I can control in an emergency. Just because we are sitting in cars that can touch 150 km without much effort doesn't mean u should hit that speed right in the middle of the city. If u r observant person u will notice that there are always some points on a highway that are most used by the pedestrians, so its best to be at a controlled speed around those areas. Not too much to ask for.
Mass , If I would have been at your place I would have given lift to his destination .......... ................ .............. believe me ..............
Fencing roads is just not different than being us in a jail .............. ......... means you can't move staright , you can't jump over the fence ............. your movements are under restrictions ......... ................. ..............
Accha , Brit & WT ......... All drivers are basically pedestrians { first } .......... they walk from their home's door to car door then from car door to the office door and back again in the eve ........... ............ And best thing is they are allowed to walk without any licence { of a learnt walker / certified walker } ................ This is another proof that walking from anywhere to nowhere is natural ..............
Massive .......... It may be an emergency call ............ He may be a guy from the Fire dept .......... it may later save others lives / property if he was using phone while running at the corssing ............. may be was called out by his boss to report duty atonce & he was so sincere that he started running even while he was still attending a call from his boss's desk ..... ............ I appreciate that much loyality with your responsibility even if nobody is watching you ..................
today i was at electricity round about signal on second position , as soon as the signal open the car before me moved & i was about to move ,suddenly a man came running from the right side, for a while i got paused & he ran away. i dont know how to deal with these type of peoples, so many pedestrians are talking on phone while crossing the road
today i was at electricity round about signal on second position , as soon as the signal open the car before me moved & i was about to move ,suddenly a man came running from the right side, for a while i got paused & he ran away. i dont know how to deal with these type of peoples, so many pedestrians are talking on phone while crossing the road
I guess he IS an Aboriginal.
MM: Do you have Aboriginal ancestors ?
MM: You are right! When a stupid person tries to make a dash across one of these high-speed roads, he is first ------- the pile of cars are behind him!
Guys , All the space at the crest of the earth belongs to the pedestrians ........ humans came first ......... vehicles afterwards ........... where-ever pedestrians should have priority rights on the earth's surface .. ........................
i have lost count of the number of fools who stroll across busy roads in Qatar like they are having a leisurely walk in the country, they are brain dead and cause accidents by people having to swerve to miss them. I will happily slow down to let people cross a road but i have no sympathy for people who just dart out into traffic on three lane highways. They should be arrested.
xfibre: You could always get a Tuk-Tuk like Rizks. It's cheap on petrol and can be parked easily.
@britexpat you are right, they want us to park our cars on the road; but one is more serious than the other...
I will try and get carmel by that i won't have to worry about parking space nor crossing the road......
Lemeul: You may have a point. I remember that my old friend Dracula always refused to use a footbridge
Lemuel_09: That's how you look at it and not others. This view of yours never came into my mind and I am sure also not in the minds of many. It is indeed weird. Almost all overhead bridges in Doha form a cross. Were they not constructed? All major roundabouts form a cross, don't they? Really, it takes all sorts of people with weird views to make up this world. You are among that lot who can be singled out for holding such ideas which simply beat the imagination.
Well It's both Government and the people itselfs fault, As you all know why there are few Pedestrian Bridges here / overpass, is because when you look it up, it forms a cross, i don't know what's with the cross?, i mean yess i know this is a muslim country but what will the cross do? Right? This is just my opinion anyways, maybe they will build underground passes which is bit overkill i think.
WT: Yes, both of us understand. However, most of those who try to make the dash through such high-speed three-lane roads are unaware of how fast a vehicle is traveling and would be reaching them. It is a combination of their over-confidence and a desire to avoid the extra kilometers of walking to a safe crossing point, that make them take such risks. True, such acts would lead someday to serious accidents, injuries and may be deaths in a car pile up. The logical solution is to construct pedestrian bridges at reasonable distances where any sensible person would opt by himself to use this means of crossing rather than take the very risky option of crossing the roads at other places.
I "understand" what you are trying to say, accha. But still, these guys are violating the traffic laws. Would you cross a raging river and risk your life if a bridge is 5 km further down the stream? I doubt it. I assume you have a brain to judge the danger.
@acchabaccha It's like saying some walked in wood chipper on sidewalk because they didn't know how to walk around it. These reckless acts could cause a multiple pile up on highway one day and kill more people.
If people want to get somewhere not accessible by foot, then just get a ride by someone they know, choose to go somewhere else or get taxi. It's that simple until more pedestrian bridges are constructed.
xfibre: Is it any different to building residential / office towers and not providing ample parking ?
WT: I was not talking of any specific incident such as yours. If you are to walk four kilometers just to find the next safe crossing point under any weather condition, you may understand better the views I was trying to convey.
@acchabaccha you spoke my mind; in addition to that, i think the highest percentage of workforce in Qatar didn't have a car. So if we can execute massive road project worth billions of rial
why can't we provide pedestrian bridges that will only cost thousands of rial and save lots of life!
acchabaccha: Your points are valid. However, all of us take our lives in our own hands when taking the risk to cross a busy road.
We all need to be wary. Mah he rest in peace.
Furthermore, it's a three-lane highway. You have to climb OVER BARRIERS to do what they did. They clearly breach the rules. Stupid or ignorant. You choose.
It was 9 pm at night, accha, in December. So, there was no scorching heat!
Rather than accuse people who risk their lives crossing the roads, one should look into the causes that force these people take this risk. All the people who have written their comments at QL so far, appear to be owners of vehicles and they move very smoothly around in their four-wheeler. As such they are unable to comprehend the realities on the ground. What would a pedestrian do if the next safe crossing point is say three or four kms away? To a pedestrian, walking all that way especially in the scorching heat is some distance to cover compared to someone sitting in the cozy comfort of his air conditioned car. Since they are pedestrians and may not have ever driven a vehicle, many are unable to judge the speed at which a vehicle is approaching him, and the slight misjudgment costs him his life.
I almost hit three (!) Indians at 9pm as they tried to cross the Doha Expressway near the Land Mark entry. And they also wore dark clothes. It seems that they wanted to get killed.
The headline makes it sound as if it was the trucker's fault. Obviosusly, he was either crossing the road or walking by the side. A warning to all. May he rest in peace.
Well only him self to blame for that lack judgement. I welcome imposing fines on the jaywalkers. Because far to many people are crossing the road in dark conditions and on highways too.