qatari traffic laws

Sounds it is your fault, if you hit this car from the side.

Nurkulova, who said you are NOT allowed to change lanes? Which driving school did you go to?

The KING thing is right...I have got a freind in the traffic police department and he told me the same...I dont know about other countries..but thats true for this part of the world..

THE RULES ALWAYS SAY:

Do not change ur lane! So HOW the heck its allowed for the Inner Lane to be a KING and drive Straight by Blocking the Other Mid and the LEFT Lanes???? Should we like guess where the King decides to drive???

Sorry to burst your bubble but it's not true.

I've been in 2 accidents; in both cases the other driver was Qatari male (one was a cop).

And in both cases, THEY were found at fault, not me.

If its a local you just dont stand a chance,we expats dont know how to drive so the sorry if you in an accident no matter if you right you will always be wrong. Locals rule. We think we doing the right thing and we might just well be doing the right thing but to them its wrong.

And to the guy that says you must check your English tell him to piss off. People think they better than others.

You made your point that is good enough. They should keep their comments to themselves b4 they answer.

try to be watchful and defensive driver when entering the roundabouts. some idiot drivers thinks roundabout are their race track circuit:)

I always use the middle lane. More convenient and more options :)) Accidents are just bad luck. It might happen no matter what you do or how good you drive, because it doesn't solely depend on you :) It depends on the other drivers as well.

garnet, even if its a 3 lane road exiting into a 2 lane road the same rule applies, you keep left to go left and straight and you keep right to turn right or straight, but you cant turn left from the right lane.

Nazlia, I kinda understand what you mean, however in driving schools here (i suppose you went for driving classes) they teach you to show your signal just as you are about to exit the round about, if you follow the above rules that i mentioned you can stay in the left lane and as soon as you are half way around the turn you signal and enter into the 3'rd/ 2nd lane, there should not be anyone behind you except for the car in the left lane BEHIND you as everyone else is either going straight or turning right.

some direction arrows before the r/o has left with straight sign.. it depends on the entry and exit.if your comming from a 3 lane road and the exit road only has 2 lanes then the left lane is for left and u turn only.

if all roads exits has 3 lanes, cant see no reason for the left lane not to go straight?

thank you every body for help

but the actual help comes from accident

now i will never take middle lane for left turn but it makes my life difficult ,as to reach my office i have to take a quick right turn to service road after i turn left from round about so it will add another 5 minutes to my road time

The police obviously bullshitted you :)

You cannot go strait from the inner lane. "Nic" posted the rules of a R/A, and they also do apply in Qatar. Check the signs before the R/A.

Try to take photos of the accident scene. Later if you see you have been deceived you can apply to court.

Normally the police report should include a drawing of the incident etc. So check it.

And also, if you have special people in your office who can help you out in such situations, immediately call them after the accident. Better to have such people talk to the police. Otherwise they write and decide what they want.

flor,

which unfortunately leaves us with my very first comment (Tue, 09/11/2010 - 10:35am).

it's logical!

Flor,

I know she is right, that's what I said on my comment above (Tue, 09/11/2010 - 10:40am).

I think we have over educated her about the rules of the round about..hopefully she'll be eating, sleeping and dreaming about the laws from all the comments here.

Nazlia relax accidents happen in life, learn from past mistakes and move on :P

No need to delete this topic let it serve as a lesson to future people who meet with accidents at round-abouts

ok everybody now iknow everything about traffic laws and i also know how many people here know the law idont want anymore commwentes just tell me how to delete this forum

needs help from MOD

the OP is RIGHT in her view!

Just follow my guide...

http://www.qatarliving.com/node/1437239

Thanks for that Nic..

Here is an example to be followed in countries where you drive on the left side of the road.

For countries like Qatar where you drive on the right side of the road, flip the picture horizontally 180°:

The chaotic discussion and the different opinions (some valid and some dangerously non sense) reflect the chaos of the traffic we all face here on a daily basis!

Over here, it is either 3 or 2 lanes. The left lane is left...L for Left...Right lane is R for Right....if it is 2 lanes...well god help us as most times we then enter a road with 3 lanes....however, this has to be viewed with caution...as both of those lanes could go straight ahead!

Confused??? We all are!

In the case of the 3 laner...Left is L for left...Right is R for right and the middle is M for muddle your way through that :-)))

depends on how many lanes there are.

I was assuming that with 3 entry lanes there will be 3 exit lanes - thus all lanes can go straight.

Now I think about it....if there are only 2 entry & exit lanes they can still both go straight.

Is for turning left ONLY! Or going all the way round the roundabout...it is a simple rule. Right lane is for turning right...middle lane going ahead OR...trying to stay in the middle lane to come off INTO the middle lane at the rounabout!

Ram into the back of someone...your fault unless you are a local.

Have your kid sat on your knee whilst on the phone and something happens and you are a local...not your fault.

To be simple about this...The locals drive shall we say to be discrete; like mad things. They drive way too fast and are very bullying to be honest. In their minds, as they all drive automatics they have a foot and a hand free and as they all have been driving since they were kids, therefore presume they are king of the road!

Indians/Pakistanis etc (I am going to be brutally honest here) drive even worse! They don't have a scooby doo AT all!

I was at Hyat Plaza today; saw a car sweep out of the carpark. The car went into oncoming traffic...very dangerous...who was at the wheel? A kid of about 3/4 sat on his (I presume fathers) knee; the child steering the car. If there had been another idiot (and let's face it in Doha, a real possibility) driving in an equally stupid way, that child could have been killed. Would that adult/parent in charge of that child be done for manslaughter? No!

Something should be done about the number of Indian/Pakistan drivers- there are way too many uneducated men driving massive cars here. What makes it worse most of the time they are driving children to and from school and the kids are not strapped in and are stood up in the car!

Laws should be upheld for all. This means- all people strapped in, kids in car seats, no chatting on mobile phones, no tailgating and whoever is found speeding, jumping red lights and generally being a *rap driver should be prosecuted wherever they come from and this includes the Qataris.

There are too many cars on the road for a country of this size anyway; why make it worse with people who have no idea of the rules of driving.

You are at fault - the universal law on a roundabout.

All three lanes can go straight.

Inner(left hand side) lane can also turn left.

Middle lane CAN ONLY GO STRAIGHT.

Outer (right hand side)lane can also turn right

Baically you cut him up

@ nazliambreen,you don't need a rule book for this one,just some common sense,it has NOTHING to do with someone being a king & someone else being a pauper...

motorists in ANY lane may go straight,if you want to turn left,you HAVE TO BE in the INNER LANE instead of trying to be smart & think you're saving time by taking the middle or outer lane & cutting across people who are FOLLOWING THE LAW!...come across people like you EVERYDAY morning @ midmac roundabout & they honk & gesture @ me like it's their right of way WTF???...want to turn left? choose the innermost lane when you're approaching the roundabout DESPITE the fact that it moves the slowest because BY LAW,that is the lane you should be in to turn left...This is your fault,no question about it & please people stop crying "Asian discrimination" when it clearly does not apply,the OP broke the law & got into an accident as a result,it's her fault,no question about it...

Well live & learn so hopefully in the future,you will stick to the INNERMOST lane when turning left @ a roundabout...good luck...

Your rule applies to cars in the roundabout and those who wish to enter the roundabout - the vehicle already in the roundabout has right of way to the vehicle waiting to get in the roundabout!!!

The issue being discussed are the vehicles already in the roundabout mainly in the 3 lanes in the roundabout and the generally accepted rules of exit from the roundabout!! Unless you mean "Landcruiser exiting the round-about has the right of way" - then you are correct in Qatar :-) hehe

The vehicle exiting the round-about has the right-of-way.

Mandi

..with my blue suit on, i'm a pretty goodlooking panther though ;-)

Actually the boys at bavarian motors are coming up with pretty boring designs with their latest models - to compensate for their better looking drivers hehe...

If he hit you somewhere behind your car, it's his fault.

But if you hit the other car somewhere behind, it's your fault.

If you hit each other head to head, it's the fault on the car from the inner circle since that car's option should only be turning left...

That's how they judge traffic accident for R/A cases...

Hawk10 i never said it was THE law, i said thats what my daddy always told me and its always worked for me, common sense would tell you that going left would also include making U turns, but yeah you can also go straight from the left lane :)

Smoke said here is the Law:-

"Left lane is to go straight and left.

Middle lane is to go straight ONLY.

Right lane is to go straight and right."

You are wrong smoke. Below are the right rules for the R/A, please take a note:-

Left Lane is for U Turn and Left

Middle Lane is to go straight

Right Lane is to go right and sometime straight

Is this ur 1st time for accident?

doesnt matter wer u hit him from and if u in the middle lane and u wana go left its ur mistake.as he can go straight from the first lane aswell

from ur statement as u mentioned above..it is understandable that u were on wrong side..go to left from middle line is always wrong..it happens always with me.as i use left line to go straight at round about, but always notice the position of the side car,,mostly cars use indicator if they want to go to left from middle line.if u r clever,than u can notice this .and can give him way to cross u and thn u can go to straight..only few seconds game..

BluePanther everyone that drives a beemer are ugly...never seen any good looking folks! So you my friend are not alone :P

Even if it is not your fault you will be blame bcoz your not qatari dnt waste your precious time reading abt qatar.

Cannot argue with international rules when you are in an accident in Qatar. I follow the arrows on the road leading to the roundabout -sometimes going around the full roundabout just to take a required turn rather than risk an accident.

Even if it not my fault - repairing my beemer gonna be a pain.

So if you see an ugly lookin fella in a good looking beemer taking a full round around the roundabout - it wd be me :-)

Rather be safe than argue(sorry). That roundabout infront of the Asian Games Village has no arrows and it is three lanes getting into a two laned roundabout. Wonderful!!!! A free for all Roundabout!!! Its good they changed the Center roundabout - which had the same issue

Being an expat I always follow the following rule in ?Qatar.

Might is right, Left is right and the local is right. I never had trouble so far :-))

Smoke is right

Left lane is to go straight and left.

Middle lane is to go straight ONLY.

Right lane is to go straight and right.

!!!WHEN HIT HIM/HER SO ITS UR MISTAKE...CAUSE U KNOW HER IN QATAR ALWAYS BEHIND IS THE MISTAKE...

Problem of Asian here dat dey dnt help each adar ...:)) ROFL ..

Sayeed Khan was tryng to help build ur english Grammar :P

N Its ur Fault And de Ploce man is Right ..

If u r in de Middle Track u can onli go Straight ..n if u needed to go to de left u had to put an indicator fr long so dat the car to ur left cud giv u de space to go ..

Keep in Mind wat Smoke said ya .. It shall help ya next tym u go fr Driving ..:)

JUST CHARGE IT TO EXPERIENCED; WHENEVER YOUR ARE DRIVING ALWAYS BE ALERT CAUTIOUS CAREFUL, ALWAYS MAINTAIN THE CORRECT LANE ESPECIALLY THE RA AND ALWAYS USE YOUR SIGNAL INDICATOR.

ivan ignore the know-all.

Bottomline is we are all at the mercy of the policeman who would be making the police report. I always believe that in the end justice shall prevail!

@saeedkhan..I think your first comment was rude and it was out of the topic. Why dont you just STFU! If you are really good in English then so be it but never lambast a person who isnt.

It is simple matter.Inner lane(1st lane) vehicles can go straight and left. heavy vehicle can take left from outer lanes. if u want to go left from outer lanes u should give signal and give place inner cars. probably u r mistake

nazliambreen, if there was a hit then yeah he'd have been at fault. But seeing that even though i have my good looks i cant speak arabic and i'm sure the other guy would have swindled his way out of it. :p

anticipate or try to preempt the movement of the other cars beside you. Unless it's totally free, never push your luck too much!

right smoke, you should have gestured the tissue box instead LOL!

LOL SNM if thats the case then i forgive him for he know not what he was doing :p

@smoke

u were the king this time

u can hit him and claim hehe

this is what the policeman told me when i argue if u r in left late u can hit and claim him to pay

Khanan even I am confused about that and it's not just one round about, there are many more..

you should understand his case Smoke, he's going to the loo and dump his load, bad case of irritable bowel syndrome.

signals

hahaha

thank you for for the specifics Rony, that's the case most of the time

Just yesterday i was on the left lane of a two lane road, reached the round about and was going straight, white altima from behind is speeding up behind me so I give my signal to move to the right lane, this guy was so fast and in such a hurry he tried to over take me from the right hand side and almost rammed into me...and to make it worse he goes ahead, pulls down his tinted windows (guy sitting in arab dress) and gives me this angry stare. So i stared back at him equally angry and i was like "yeah WTF are you going to do?" and showed him the all time favorite '5 fingers closed"(wait, go slow) which to me was showing him the finger :P

Both of you were at fault...

well most don't follow the traffic rules and in some cases the below could ring true (on a lighter vein)

1. the Locals r always right

2. the native arabic speakers r right

3. arabic speakers r right sometimes

4. man is right when the opposite side is a female,

5. ur religion and nationality matters at times

No Offence meant to anyone in particular :)

Snessy sadly thats the case here, coz its the usual belief that women dont know how to drive carefully. You are an exceptional case..it was your fault you were not moving when the other car rammed into you from behind :P

garnet0ph - I disagree, the inner lane does not take priority and and what signals on the roundabout

yes they have! specially during fog... you can see they everywhere flashing hehehe

garnet06ph said "always look at their signal"..... cars out here have signals?

until u find (and memorize) the book on qatari traffic law!

IMO its your fault, all cars on your left side has the priority. so if your on the round about and your in the middle lane expect the car in your left to go straight, always look at their signal. be careful nxt time. charge to experience.

Always be alert...

Hi Nazliambreen,

Technically speaking, it is the other person's fault. the inner most lane is to be used to go left (the arrow on the road before entering the round about also says so), but there are way too many people who don't see / realize this.

i was in the same situation last week (a to z), the only difference being the guy who hit me fled and never filed a complaint.

Also, you are at fault if the other person is a better Arabic speaker than you.

it's not your mistake,mistake was we are asian parsion,don't worry next time be care full driving!take care.

someone I know parked his car up at night and went to bed, next morning he goes to his car and it is smashed in at the back. He went to the police station in order to report it so he could get it fixed - he then finds himself in trouble with the police for crashing into another car and failing to report it. Turns out it was someone local who had backed into his car and in order for him not to get in trouble he went to the police and made a false claim stating this guy had crashed into him and drove off- guess who the police believed??!

So Smoke...you are saying women are always at fault, huh??

I've learnt to drive back in the UK and have been driving for 17 years accident free! I came here to Doha and some gobshite drives into the back of me when I'm stationary - am I at fault? Cos he seemed to think so....

thank you Smoke!! :) now it's clear for me

used to signboard before R/A showing the lines to adopted..

Smoke you are spot on for the usage of line for the R/A.

I am all confused about 3 lanes ending at 2 lane after the R/A. eg. Sheraton R/A

SNM that is a universal rule!

Smoke, does that apply here?

nazliambreen,

it then appears to be his fault.

but do take note of my previous comment, unfortunately it has a say on the police's decision.

but if you are a super hot female then its the other person's fault!

I didn't realise there were any laws, I assumed it was a free for all at the roundabouts judging by the way people drive here!

Never use the middle lane in R/A...

...or use it at your own risk....

Smoke I wish you had listened to everything what your dad had told you about...He He He

Also if you are female its your fault :P

he hit me from the side

@saeedkhan

if ucannot help keep silent

this is the problem with all asians here they dont help each other

if he is a Qatari, then its your fault.

if you hit his rear, then it's your fault

Here the Law states that if you hit a car from behind its automatically YOUR FAULT even if the front guy puts on his breaks suddenly and you have no time to react.

Secondly my dad always told me this and i follow this rule always and thankfully never had an accident at around abouts.

Left lane is to go straight and left.

Middle lane is to go straight ONLY.

Right lane is to go straight and right.

If you follow these rules i think you can never hit anyone unless the other person hits you :P

~It depends - should not really go ahead from inner lane - but did you hit him, did he hit the side of your car or did he hit you from behind?

did you hit from behind or side?