A cross-section of Qatar residents, particularly representatives of a number of government and private companies, called upon the traffic authorities to put in place more stringent measures to discipline those indulging in rash driving and causing accidents.

The appeal was made at a well-attended seminar on traffic awareness and safety, held on Thursday at the headquarters of the Traffic Department by the Ministry of Interior (MoI).

While calling upon the authorities to set in place stronger rules for controlling perennial violators of the country's traffic rules, community members felt such stringent punishments would go along way to not only reduce traffic accidents but also help reduce fatalities on account of traffic accidents.

Some of the companies' representatives explained what they have done in recent months to give more traffic awareness to their staff and said the results of their campaigns have been remarkably encouraging.

They said their companies are too happy to continue to such initiatives in coming years on a regular basis so that they could contribute significantly to reduce traffic fatalities on the country's roads and work sites.

A health, safety and environment official from a major government company said screening of different videos highlighting accidents, use of simulators, and regular deliberations on such violations as the use of mobile phones while driving have yielded encouraging results among the company's staffers and their family members.

The official also advocated the use of wall posters, pamphlets and electronic messages wherever and whenever possible on a regular basis.

He said many of his colleagues are travelling long distance daily to reach their workplace but the campaigns carried out by the company over the recent months helped them change their driving habits in a big way.

An official of a well-known joint venture construction company, employing several hundreds of workers for its running projects in Qatar, said the firm held more than four programmes in the last four months, involving its own employees and others working in their projects.

The official said though Qatar was home to so many nationalities with different attitudes, and culture, most road users are simply forgetting that all are using the same roads for their travels.

"As most of us are aware, one of the main reasons for a number of road accidents in Qatar is the large volume and high density of private vehicles in the country," he said.

For spreading better awareness among its workers, the company held campaigns in Hindi and Bengali for more than 500 of them on Al Shamal Expressway.

Similar awareness events were hosted at Ras Laffan Industrial City, Lusail Light Rail Transit site, and also at InterContinental Doha The City.

In all, the company covered more than 1,000 people as part of the campaigns to promote traffic and road safety.

Earlier, MoI officials Lt Adil Salim al-Sulaiteen and Lt Fahd Sheridha al-Abdulla called upon the community members to closely associate with the MoI programmes to raise traffic awareness and traffic safety, held at regular intervals.

Issa Darwish (Qatar Fertiliser Company), Sameh Zulfi (QDVC) and J Eldhos (Al Jabor Cements) were among those explained the initiatives made by their companies to reduce traffic accidents on the country's roads.