Motorist sentenced for drink driving in Qatar

never drinking when I go out.... and people always look at me strangly when I say, "just water, please"

Thank you for this info this is really useful.

I'm sorry if you were hurt by my comments but I never intended that.

I enjoy driving on maximum permitted speed in Doha and have been enjoying in other countries as well but don't like those who do not respect the law (for speed limit) and intrude in other lane without proper indication while the other car is already on maximum permitted speed. In that situation, applying brakes is panic.

Around city, on main roads, 80km/h is permitted speed limit. If a car is already on that maximum speed, do you believe it is fun to flash again and again compelling the other drive to leave his lane? There are many places where speed limit changes to 60km/h or some other speed limit. What’s wrong if someone drives on that speed? Slow and peaceful can be taken as “within limits”.

Anyway, drive safe, stay safe.

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I am all for zero tolerance. This is not to say that I don't like a glass of wine with dinner or that I don't enjoy a cocktail with friends. I enjoy both activities on a regular basis. What I don't do is drive afterwards - for several reasons. One I am on the small/short side - I can "feel" the effects of one glass of wine and if I can feel it, I know it will affect my response behind the wheel of the car. Two - I am a parent of teenagers and I want to set the right example. Drinking responsibly includes not driving afterwards. Three I have lost friends to drunk driving and I have friends who have lost children to a drunk driver and these are not experiences I would want anyone to face.

Firstly, Zero tolerance with alchol and driving makes sense, everybody knows where they stand instead of the can I drink 2 or 3 beers or is that too much debate. If you drink, you cant drive, simple, effective and you dont take a chance on how much you think you can drink before you are over the limit.

Bad drivers come in sorts, those who drive too fast, too slow, weaving, tail gating........they are all not just bad drivers, they endanger other road users.

I have driven all other the world over the years and bad drivers are everywhere and drunk drivers too..........the law is the law....... if thet break the law then take away their licences........they will soon learn when they have to sit at home, cant just jump in the car and go somewhere

Good. I can never forgive drink drivers.

They can kill themselves but when they put other's lives at risk, it's Not acceptable.

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Alien: Yeah yeah, I wasn't, yo. I was not saying 'States' to make a comparison, I was saying 'States' as an illustrative example so people could better understand what I was getting at. As there are other Westerners on this board, and the laws regarding drinking and driving are loosely similar, I would be more easily understood. As it is, I got the answer I was looking for from another Westerner, who got my point right away.

Thank you for your advice in telling me how I should and should not live in Doha, but I *have* lived abroad before. Your advice, I'm sorry to say, was a bit insulting. Compared to rural Japan, Doha is an absolute cakewalk.

Okay, now let's talk about slowly and peacefully. Slowly and peacefully is also a traffic hazard. Slowly and peacefully on a busy road, IMHO, is a bigger hazard than the car in the far lane who is flooring it. I am just a bit sick and tired of 'slowly and peacefully' drivers who insist on going 50 on a 80km stretch, in the middle lane, while other cars are forced to slalom around them. Learn to drive, or get off the road.

I just wanted to say...don't compare...as you have nothing comparable in terms of the advantages that you have at your home country. And in addition to that...if there is a little "Why" in your comparison, you will get nothing except a big frustration.

I agree comparing things happening in different parts of the world is interesting and helpful in understanding the things better.

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Even one drink can slow your reaction to a situation. Just don’t drink at all when you have a vehicle!!. Take a taxi, it’s much safer.

As regarding the driving here, speeding is not always the cause of accidents. Pulling in front of you when you on a roundabout or just weaving in and out of lanes, both are dangerous. And Oryx, your correct, driving in the middle lane is just as dangerous.

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Thinking about it I'm not sure if 'zero tolerance' means you must have a zero blood-alcohol reading. There could be an acceptable blood-alcohol level (like in other countries as namabiru pointed out) and they have 'zero tolerance' for anyone over that limit, i.e. though wont let anyone off if caught. Would be interesting to find out.

Better safe than sorry though.

I agree that speeding, while dangerous, probably isn't the worse thing on the roads. It's the tail-gaiting, swerving through traffic, middle-lane driving, poor lane discipline at roundabouts, not looking when joining from slip-roads, not indicating, parking on the road, so on and so forth, that are dangerous. Of course, when done at high speed these things become even more dangerous and more likely to cause worse injuries.

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http://tall-and-ginger.blogspot.com

they also loose the driving permission when they drive drunk or they where caught by driving to fast or caused an accident by their fautlts.is it the same in Doha like in Europe?

Alien -

a) some people driving slowly in the middle lane are just as dangerous as those speeding.

b) Namabiru - can compare all he likes its interesting for us to learn about different places

May I take this opportunity to plead 2 things:

a) if you are coming from a slip road to a main road look before you pull out into oncoming traffic (2 near death experiences recently)

b) hazard lights do not constitute a defacto parking area.

if you need to stop your car... pull OFF the main road to a safe place.

NOT stop on the road or worse still junction or roundabout

Thanks

Traffic is already becoming horrible in Doha. Over speeding is very common local fashion becoming life threat for drivers on small cars and for those who like to drive slowly and peacefully. In this situation, if police is doing efforts to enforce the traffic laws, it is appreciable.

NAMABIRU.....while living in Doha, talk about Doha and don't compare anything here to that in the States. It will help you in understanding the local laws and requirements better and becoming less frustrate.

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With the existing difficulty in recruiting people, I think he may get away without deportation. I appreciate that the law says he should be but I suspect it will depend on what type of job he is in (is it critical) and how much wasta the company have.

We will have to wait and see.

I was listening to an excellent debate about this on Radio 4.

Some people say that the limit should be zero because it is so hard to judge how much is acceptable.

The dilemma in Catholic countries is that priests are required to drink wine for mass and the Vatican ruled that non - alcholic wine is not acceptable.

Is it zero in Qatar?

Unless someone can help him out of hissituation I reckon he will be deported but it did not say in the Gulf Times

Good to hear they're enforcing the laws. Did it say whether he will be deported after serving his sentence? I thought the law said that any ex-pats caught drink driving would be automatically deported.

namabiru - it's zero tolerance here, so it doesn't matter how much "under the influence" he was. You could still be intoxicated if you drive the morning after a night of drinking.

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Nowadays they have lowered the amount of alcohol intake so two beers is alreaady too much.

Yeah, but I'm wondering what they consider to be "under the influence" for personal knowledge purposes. Is one drink considered "under the influence" here? I guess I'm questioning the wording, because in the States at least (+ other western countries), you can have a drink but you're not really considered "under the influence" unless your level is .08 or something. You know what I mean? So is 'under the influence' meaning you've had any alcohol period, or is it more of an impairment judgment on the cop's part? Because they don't do breathalyzer here, do they?

The police are checking much more now and good thing too, he might have killed someone he should have taken a taxi and he would be ok now.

Question. How much "under the influence" was he?