1st Traffic Violation?

Was recently on a works course that introduced some of various basics about living and working in Qatar.

The government affairs head gave us an overview on how to deal with traffic accidents, traffic violations etc.

One thing about Qatar is you do not get any tickets through the post. There is no postal system. You have to check only against your vehicle periodically and see if there is anything outstanding. It is also important to regularly check as if there are items outstanding this can prevent the vehicle being re-registered and the end of its current year, and more importantly can prevent you leaving the country if there are outstanding fines against your QatarID number.

Last night, I thought I would just have a check out of curiosity to see how the system worked etc. Much to my surprise it looks like I have managed to acquire a speeding fine already, about a week after getting the car! I have been extra cautious the first month and been making sure I haven't been speeding or doing anything daft, so was quite surprised to find a violation listed against my vehicle.

Looking at the date/time, I worked out that this was when I was heading over to the Technology Park for a course. I remember getting lost finding my way into the tech park, and there was also huge amounts of roadworks in the area so maybe there was reduced speed limit or something I hadn't noticed. I was probably too busy trying to work out how to get back to the exit I had missed.

Anyway, the fine is 500QAR (about 95GBP), but more importantly there are no associated points to go on my Qatar Driving License. They work a 14 point system, but any points acquired expire a year after the event.

I could have gone to the transport facilities and asked about it, or asked to see the evidence, but really didn't want all that sort of hassle. I elected to just pay the fine online which means there is nothing outstanding against the vehicle. All clean again!

The initial check page is done at: http://www.moi.gov.qa/TFCViolations/English/EnglishInput.jsp and you can check against any vehicle. There is another page that can offer more information and is also used to pay off any fines and that can be found by clicking the "Settle The Traffic Fine" button on the page. You can then search again and it gives more information, i.e. the description in my instance had some content.



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