Manama: A court in Qatar has revoked a motorist’s driving licence after convicting her of assault in a road rage incident.
The woman, a foreign national, was also ordered by the traffic court in Doha to pay a QR5,000 (Dh5,043) fine and had her car impounded for two months.
Qatari daily Al Sherooq on Monday reported that the woman was driving at great speed when she was forced to slow down by cars moving slowly ahead of her.
Frustrated with the snail’s pace, she honked her horn continuously, but the vehicle in front of her was stuck in the traffic jam at the roundabout and could not move.
The motorist stepped out of her car and went to vehicle in front of her and started banging on the window and yelling.
However the driver, an expatriate, ignored her and kept his windows rolled up. The motorist opened the door, slapped the driver and abused him verbally.
Attempts by other drivers and passersby to put an end to the aggression failed. The woman refused to return to her car and continued to assault the motorist.
Police were called in and the two drivers were taken to a station, where an investigation was launched. The case was referred to the public prosecutor after the abused driver pressed charges.
The court found the road rage motorist guilty.
With a steep rise in population and vehicles on the road, Qataris have been complaining about traffic flow issues and calling for prompt solutions.
Figures released recently by the Qatar Statistics Authority indicate that Qatar’s population grew by 92 per cent in the past six years, from one million in 2007 to 1.92 million at the end of March 2013.
The figure was a surprise for the country as the National Development Strategy had projected Qatar’s population to still be well below that figure by 2016.
