In a move aimed at simplifying procedures for motorists involved in road accidents, the General Directorate of Traffic has opened five traffic investigation offices on the premises of insurance companies in Qatar.
This was announced by the Ministry of Interior (MoI) in a post on its Facebook page on Monday.
With the introduction of the new service, motorists involved in an accident are no longer required to go to traffic investigation sections located in different areas of the country, the MoI stressed.
Previously, motorists involved in traffic accidents had to wait until a police patrol reached the spot or visit the nearest traffic investigation section to register an accident and get a report to approach the insurance companies.
Now, the motorists can go directly to the insurance company of the party that caused the accident and approach the traffic investigation office there to register the case. Once it's registered, the other party (the victim) can approach the insurance company staff to complete vehicle repair procedures, according to the MoI post.
Traffic investigators deployed at insurance companies will register accidents electronically through the tablets given to them, take photographs of the affected vehicles and communicate directly with the insurance companies.
The accident victim will receive a text message with details of the case and the victim can then approach the insurance firm for repairing the vehicle.
The new service is being provided as part of an integrated link between the Traffic Directorate and insurance companies to complete procedures involved in traffic accident cases at the same place.
The MoI has pointed out that all stages of a traffic investigation are completed electronically now, from registration of an accident to the issuance of a report. Besides, accident reports can now be printed from the ministry’s website or the Metrash2 mobile app without having to visit a traffic investigation section, as was the case before.
In June last year, Gulf Times had reported that the General Directorate of Traffic had opened offices in two insurance companies in Doha to investigate accidents and complete documentation.
The move was aimed at helping vehicle owners save time and ease procedures related to accident investigations, the MoI had said on the occasion.
“These offices will deal with cases related to repairing damaged vehicles that are reconciled between the parties involved in the accident. In case of (a) dispute between the parties, the traffic police office will investigate and decide who caused the accident,” the report had said.
An official had also informed that the new service would be extended to other insurance companies in future.