The use of smartphones by many motorists for various Internet based purposes has become rampant in Qatar, posing a grave threat to road safety.

“If some motorists were earlier using handheld mobile phones for voice calls, now they are engrossed in chatting, video calling and watching videos, throwing caution to the wind and endangering their lives as well as that of others,” a traffic safety expert told Gulf Times.

“Though the Traffic Department at the Ministry of Interior has organised a number of campaigns to educate the public to stop using mobile phone while behind the wheel, it is all falling on the deaf ears,” a motorist complained.

A drive through the Doha roads during the peak hours on Thursday by Gulf Times confirmed that the number of motorists using mobile phones is very high. It was also observed that many of them were using it for accessing the Internet facilities other than for making voice calls.

It could be observed that people were very casually and dangerously weaving across lanes of busy roads without bothering about other drivers while using their smartphones for web browsing and other purposes.

“The use of mobile phones is one major reason for accidents worldwide,” the Doha-based expert pointed out. However, there are not enough studies done in Qatar so far to prove the percentage of accidents due to mobile phone usage.

The use of the phones when driving has been attributed to a significant number of accidents, and the increasing trend of accessing the Internet, is all the more threatening. The practise is becoming quite common among both the genders, it could be seen.

“Many motorists are addicted to the use of mobile phones and hence do not care about the rules, putting their own lives and the lives of others in danger,” the expert said.

A new device, named ‘Textalyser,’ is being developed to check mobile phone usage while driving and it should be in the market soon, he revealed.

The gadget can help the police if an accident takes place. The device can scan the involved motorists’ mobile phones and find out whether the driver was using the phone at the time of the accident. This can be used just like the breath analyser.

“The ‘Textalyser,’ will help the authorities to know whether mobile phone was the villain in an accident, especially in a scenario in which citing privacy reasons, police may not open the phone to check the call list or data usage.

“Most of the phones are password protected and cannot be accessed freely. But the new device can help the police in this regard without breaching the privacy of the person and provide data about the phone usage,” he stated.

Citing his experience, a regular commuter on Doha roads observed that if a vehicle is being driven either recklessly or on the contrary unusually slow, in most cases the person at the wheel would be busy on smartphone.

“If I see such behaviour from a car in front, I immediately shift tracks to avoid trouble,” he added.