Finally, authorities start taking stringent action against illegally parked vehicles

Each one of you may have faced such a situation at least once during your life in Qatar.

Here is the general scenario (with slight variations here and there).

You sat up most of the previous night preparing for a key meeting. Being bone tired, you accidentally wake up late, rush through the ‘getting ready’ process and take two steps at a time to reach your car… only to find someone cross parked behind you.

You curse your luck and wait with growing impatience. Finally, an hour later, a gentleman (or lady) comes by, smiles at you, say ‘wallah sorry’ and get into the car.

Usually, one of three outcomes happen — you scream your head off at the insensitive ‘parker,’ you just sadly grin and bear it or you call the police.

Whatever the outcome, you lose precious time, money, and in extreme cases, your job.

The scenarios could often change. You could be on an urgent rush to go to the hospital, the airport, the family get together, the start of the season’s biggest football match… but the outcomes are mostly always the same.

For years, people have complained about the menace of illegal parking on online forums, including at Qatar Living.

Now, the authorities too seem to have woken up to the menace of illegal parking. The General Directorate of Traffic is intensifying the steps to curb the menace.

Traffic patrols will start doing more stringent checks on vehicles obstructing smooth flow of traffic. Legal action will be promptly taken against drivers causing the obstruction, said Maj. Mohammed Jaber Edeibh, Assistant Director of Traffic Information and Awareness Department at the General Directorate of Traffic.

The official said awareness drives undertaken by the department had led to lower number of violations this year. However, he added that there would be no let up in their quest to eradicate the problem.

It’s a good move, if you ask me. They just need to make sure that they don’t lose their interest after a few days.