Road crash victims' families in safe driving appeal

THE first recorded death as a result of a car accident was in Ireland in 1896. Following an inquest into the tragedy, the coroner noted “this should never happen again”.

Today, 112 years later, an estimated 1.3mn people lose their lives annually on roads around the world. That includes 400,000 people aged between 10 and 24 years old, making road accidents the biggest killer of young people in the world, according to a report by the World Health Organisation.

Last week, a car crash on the Old North Road near Al Ghuwariya Area was the cause of the accident in which their Toyota Land Cruiser flipped over several times.

The families and friends of the four men were left distraught by the tragedy, and they have urged all drivers to take more care on the country’s roads to avoid a repeat of the tragedy.

“It’s irrelevant how it happened now that I have lost my elder brother. Everyone in the family is still stunned,” said 23-year-old Khalid whose brother Mohamed Baig died in the crash. “I hope everyone in Qatar starts following the speed and safety procedures.”

The other young men who lost their lives were Ali Imran, Rashid Nawab and Bahram.

The parents of Ali Imran, an only child, are moving back to Pakistan for good after spending decades in Qatar.

“There’s no point in living here anymore,” Imran’s father told Gulf Times.

Sadly, accidents like these are not uncommon in Qatar; a country that had, at one time, one of the highest road-fatality rates in the world. A new traffic law that came into effect in October 2007 brought stiffer fines, including imprisonment, for traffic rule violators, but reckless driving still prevails.

One of the leading concerns of road-safety campaigners is that young numbers his 23-year-old brother, Naveed Alvi earlier this year.

“Risk-taking behaviour and peer pressure, particularly among adolescents, has to be addressed to prevent this growing public health and development problem.”

Naveed was travelling in a Nissan Patrol in the Sealine area, when a Land Cruiser collided with his vehicle resulting in his untimely death in February.

Of course, not every car accident results in a fatality – some victims survive and carry the scars with them for the rest of their lives.

“I have a permanent scar on my face corded the blemish and has even travelled to Turkey to get the scar on his left cheek removed.

He said: “I’m very glad I’m alive and I have become a reformed driver since then.”

According to some teenagers Gulf Times spoke to, the news of the Old North Road accident has shaken them so much they are now talking of selling their flash cars.

“I recently missed a life-threatening accident when the sports car I was travelling in nearly got sandwiched between an 18-wheeler and an SUV at 160km/h,” said M Yousufzai.

Another 23-year-old, B Thomas, said he had not driven his vehicle since “I first heard about the accident as I am still getting over it”.

It is estimated that every year road traffic accidents cost $518bn globally. They also leave around 20mn-50mn people injured or disabled.

One of the main causes of accidents is high speed, especially among thrill-seeking youngsters.

“The government should think of creating designated areas, say a race track, where the thrill can be sought. This can then be supervised to avoid any mishaps,” Yousufzai suggested.