Qatar Marks World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims

Doha, November 15 (QNA) - The State of Qatar commemorated on Sunday the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims, which was determined by the United Nations on the third Sunday of November of each year, as a reminder of the tragedies and suffering that road accidents cause to the victims, their families, their societies and their countries. The Ministry of Interior organized an event to mark the occasion included a presentation of the efforts and achievements made by the State of Qatar in the past years in light of the National Road Safety Strategy 2013-2023, and the global efforts in this context. Speakers at the event emphasized that the State of Qatar has made great progress in reducing road accident deaths to achieve a world record of 4.4 per hundred thousand of the population in 2019. With this achievement, the State leads the countries of the region and occupies an advanced position in the global record, thanks to its organized and coordinated efforts led by the National Traffic Safety Committee and the cooperation of all members of the committee and other governmental and non-governmental agencies. HE Dr. Ibrahim bin Saleh Al Nuaimi, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, member of the National Traffic Safety Committee and head of the team to follow up on the implementation of the National Road Safety Strategy, said that the team's efforts were based on researching the strengths of the ministries and relevant authorities in implementing the plans related to the National Road Safety Strategy and working on investing and publishing them, as good practices at the state level, and on the other hand, addressing aspects that need improvement, providing solutions and raising recommendations, and enhancing continuous and effective communication between the concerned authorities regarding joint plans. In a speech during the event, His Excellency explained that the role of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education was to consolidate the principles of traffic safety among students and the school community to create a generation that is aware of traffic safety standards and appreciates its national role in preserving lives and property. His Excellency added that the ministry has integrated traffic safety standards, and coordination has been made with the National Road Safety Committee to train teachers to implement them in a manner that achieves the goals from which they were launched, in addition to the continuous awareness campaigns directed at students and parents alike, and the involvement of teachers and administrators always in Schools are part of these awareness campaigns. His Excellency also referred to the development of surrounding and connecting streets to schools in accordance with the highest international standards in that field by the Public Works Authority to ensure the greatest degree of safety and security for school-goers, including students, employees and parents. His Excellency pointed out that road accidents are a major global problem and a major cause of deaths, injuries and disabilities around the world. For his part, Assistant Director-General of Traffic Colonel Nasser Darman Al Hajri said that setting ambitious goals to reduce road accidents injuries poses the greatest challenge facing states and societies in their efforts to achieve road safety. Colonel Al Hajri noted that the countries that have implemented measures to improve road safety have achieved great progress and remarkable success in reducing the number of deaths and injuries resulting from traffic accidents which are the first cause of death in the world and threatens the social and economic resources of countries. He explained that the risks of these accidents prompted the United Nations to proclaim the Decade of Action for Road Safety (2011-2020), which is a collective international action that calls on states to implement specific measures and procedures to make roads safer. He added that the third report of the World Health Organization showed gaps in the implementation of the procedures of the Decade of Action, which prompted the organization to call on countries to make more efforts and mobilize energies to achieve the desired goals, mainly reducing the number of deaths and injuries resulting from road accidents. He noted that the United Nations called on countries to adopt the sustainable development goals, which include the issue of traffic safety and the improvement of road and transport networks, and emphasize the importance of achieving the goals required to reduce traffic accidents, represented in education, awareness, strengthening emergency services and vehicle safety, and engaging the community in the efforts to improve road safety. Colonel Al Hajri pointed to millions of dead and wounded people around the world, most of them young people, as a result of road accidents, and the misery and suffering they cause to their families, friends and communities, as well as the great waste of economic resources. He praised the efforts exerted by police, civil defense, emergency and medical services and other concerned authorities to prevent accidents and reduce the damage caused by them. Meanwhile, HE Director of the Public Health Department at the Ministry of Public Health Sheikh Dr. Mohammed bin Hamad Al-Thani highlighted the role of the health sector in reducing the number of deaths, noting the significance of the health services and its development in facing this problem. He also underlined the important role of the health sector for accident survivors who have sustained injuries and wounds ranging from minor, medium to severe, and the major role of the Ministry of Public Health and its keenness on providing highly efficient immediate ambulance services capable of responding to the aftermath of the accident, noting that telephone response time for accidents was less than 5 seconds, while the arrival time of ambulances to the site of the accident was less than 8 minutes inside the city of Doha and less than 10 minutes outside it. He also noted the quality of services provided at the accident site and during the transportation of the injured to the hospital, in addition to improving the quality of ambulances and training the workers in accordance with international standards, and the excellent coordination with the departments of accident, trauma and emergency, as well as the commitment to conduct periodic evaluation of the services provided and obtain international accreditation. HE Director of the Public Health Department at the Ministry of Public Health Sheikh Dr. Mohammed bin Hamad Al-Thani stressed the importance of raising awareness of the dangers of traffic accidents, and the need to adhere to the rules and regulations on the roads. He called for continued efforts to improve the infrastructure, providing more modern technologies for road safety, developing speed control and management, improving standards for driving cars and bicycles, setting safety standards, reviewing and developing traffic laws constantly, developing community awareness, and the continuous development for emergency, therapeutic and rehabilitative services and home care, as well as enhancing cooperation and coordination between all partners to achieve common goals in the traffic field. He noted the importance of marking the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims as an opportunity to discuss ways to reduce road accidents and explain to the society the health, psychological and economic burdens resulting from these accidents. He added that road accidents claimed the lives of 1 million and 350 thousand people in the world annually, and they are the first cause of death among young people under 30 years old, half of whom are pedestrians, cyclists and motorcycles. Road accidents also cause various injuries to nearly 50 million people, including constant disability. For his part, Secretary of the National Traffic Safety Committee Brigadier Mohammed Abdullah Al Malki said that the State of Qatar realized early the seriousness of road accidents on its social and economic foundations, therefore established the National Traffic Safety Committee as a pioneering institution in drawing traffic policies to achieve road safety and preserve the lives and properties of society and the social and economic components of the State that are necessary for its progress and ensuring its development. Since its formation, the Committee has given the issue of traffic safety a top priority and prepared the first National Road Safety Strategy - an ambitious strategy aimed at reducing the death rate from 13 deaths per hundred thousand to 6 deaths per hundred thousand by the year 2022, Brigadier Al Malki noted. He underlined that the State of Qatar has now achieved and even exceeded this goal, as the death rate decreased to 4.4 deaths per hundred thousand in 2019, compared to the death rate per hundred thousand people in 2013 when the State of Qatar launched its traffic safety strategy and the rate was 9.3 per hundred thousand people. He explained that these figures indicate the great progress made by the State of Qatar in achieving road safety, thanks to efforts exerted by all parties who assumed the responsibility of planning and implementation in the fullest manner. Meanwhile, Senior Consultant, Head of Trauma Surgery Section at HMC Trauma Center Sheikh Dr. Hassan Al-Thani underlined that the State of Qatar has witnessed a remarkable development in trauma medicine, stressing the need of complete adherence to traffic rules and systems in order to prevent accidents. Talib Afifa, a member of the Board of Directors of the Qatar Foundation for Rehabilitation of Special Needs, said that the commemoration of road accidents victims aims to educate and guide all concerned parties to the need to limit the loss of lives on the roads every day. He presented the efforts of the Foundation in serving people with special needs and continuously raising awareness of traffic issues in its annual programs. (QNA)