The Traffic Department should study the possibility of providing special lanes where driving school trainees could practise, the Central Municipal Council (CMC) recommended yesterday.
The council also asked the Traffic Department to see if it was possible to have these dedicated lanes away from residential areas to avoid posing any safety risk to people living in these places, especially children and the elderly.
Another study should be conducted on preparing a schedule, which will ensure that training is avoided in peak traffic hours, it was suggested at yesterday’s biweekly session of the CMC.
Further, the council recommended that the Traffic Department, in co-ordination with the entities concerned, conduct a comprehensive study on the locations of driving schools in order to keep them away from densely-populated areas.
The council earlier discussed the issue of driving school trainees practising on internal roads and thereby posing safety risks to residents of such areas besides causing inconvenience to them. Such a practice may lead to a variety of problems, including potential accidents, a threat to children playing near their houses or damage to vehicles parked alongside such roads, it observed.
In view of this, the council felt it would be better to have dedicated lanes on roads for driving schools and prepare their training schedule accordingly.
Meanwhile, the CMC recommended that the Public Works Authority (Ashghal) review the designs of under-construction internal roads and ensure that these comply with the guidebook for road design in Qatar.
All new internal roads should include pedestrian tracks, parking space on both sides and entry and exit points for public transport (buses, for example) with adequate and safe crossing points for pedestrians.
In addition, Ashghal should take into consideration the need to link these with the upcoming Metro stations to enhance road safety in general and pedestrian safety in particular.
With yesterday’s meeting, the council concluded its sessions for the season and would resume in September after the summer vacation. CMC chairman Mohamed bin Hammoud al-Shafi thanked all the members and staff of the council for their sincere efforts and wished them well for their holidays.