By Joey Aguilar/Staff Reporter

Behaviour change remains a major factor in reducing the number of road accidents and fatalities, Patrick Philip, head of the International Road Transport Union (IRU) Academy, has said.

“Good infrastructure, technology and modern vehicles are obviously important as well, but if we do not change the behaviour and develop the knowledge and skills of the drivers we will still have a large amount of fatalities on the road,” he said.

Philip was one of the speakers at the National Workshop on Effective Actions on Accident Prevention to Mitigate Number of Qatar Road Accidents held at the Traffic Department Office yesterday.

The event was organised by the Ministry of Interior, IRU and Mowasalat under the patronage of HE the Minister of Transport Jassim Seif Ahmed al-Sulaiti and supported by the United Nations Decade of Actions on Road Safety.

Citing a number of studies including the one conducted by IRU which are publicly available, Philip said all led to one conclusion: 85% to 90% of the causes of the accidents are due to the human factor.

“That is why the IRU Academy was established in order to address road safety effectively, but primarily for cruising on the main cause of accidents – the human element,” he noted.

The IRU official added that one in every 3mn people around the world are passing away on the road every day, which means that around 3,000 people die on the road.

“We have to multiply that figure by about 20 to take into account severe fatalities which obviously had also a major impact when we speak about the financial impact on the economy and the societies,” he said. “Road accident is the eighth cause of death around the world and it will soon move to fifth.”

In Qatar, a lot of motorists get annoyed by erring drivers who violate traffic rules such as jumping the red light, sudden swerving, overtaking from the left lane, and a display unruly behaviour while on the road.

In his speech read by a representative from the ministry, the Minister reiterated the importance of raising awareness on the importance of traffic and road safety to reduce fatalities and serious injuries.

He said holding local, regional and international conferences, workshops and seminars significantly help in saving more lives.

Philip echoed the statements of the Minister saying that “road safety is not a fatality in itself because it can be addressed.”

Traffic Department director Brig Mohamed Saad al-Kharji also supported the Minister's statement saying that enforcing the law, sending awareness messages, using modern traffic methods that ensure road safety and intensifying traffic patrols help a lot in minimising road accidents usually caused by human error.

"By observing the traffic accident numbers and indicators, we can come to the conclusion that we are moving on the right track," he added.