There is a zero tolerance here - no alcohol allowed in the system at all. If you are an expat and you are caught driving and your blood shows alcohol in it - you are deported.
Fortunately taxis are cheap here, so most people if they are going out and know they are going to be drinking just catch a cab home.
But read below what happens if you are a local.... with a track record of drunk driving ... and you kill 3 people.... Also note at the end how the women are worth 1/2 that of men in compensation...
Death crash driver jailed for 9 months in absentia
Published: Thursday, 19 June, 2008, 02:08 AM Doha Time
By Nour Abuzant
A DRINK-DRIVER who killed three people after jumping a red light has been sentenced to nine months in jail.
A court heard the victims were two local women – one of whom was six months pregnant – and their Indian driver.
The killer driver – named Shafi Ali – did not appear in court to hear the verdict.
Sentencing him in absentia, the judge ordered Ali serve three months in prison for the traffic violation and six months for drinking. He was fined QR6,000 for driving under the influence of alcohol and had his licence suspended for six months.
He was also ordered to pay blood money totalling QR300,000 plus an extra QR15,000 for the death of the embryo.
As the fatal crash took place before the new traffic law came into force the judge had imposed the maximum penalty at his disposal.
He revealed that Ali, a Qatari national in his 20s, had 13 previous convictions, including six alcohol-related incidents, bounced cheques and an escape from legal detention.
The judge noted that he had been lashed and jailed for the previous offences – none of which had served as any future deterrent.
The fatal accident occurred on May 4 last year after Ali drove from his home in Manaseer to a car wash in Waab. He admitted to police that he had been drinking beer at home before he left, and as he approached a set of traffic lights close to the Hyatt Plaza, they changed to red and he kept on driving – causing an on-coming vehicle to swerve into the car carrying the three victims. Medical tests proved he was drunk.
Ali suffered only slight injuries in the accident. A 26-year-old pregnant woman, her 35-year-old friend and their 23-year-old driver all died.
Delivering its verdict, the court ordered both Ali and an insurance company to share the blood money payment of QR75,000 to each of the families of the two women and QR150,000 to the driver’s relatives.
The court described Ali as “a negligent youth who allowed himself to drive under the influence of alcohol therefore endangering the lives of innocent people”. It added that his rich criminal record reiterated his carelessness.
Gulf Times Newspaper, 2008 ©
http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=225303&version=1&template_id=57&parent_id=56
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I wish the article would have laid out what the new maximum penalties are. They mention new traffic laws - but don't lay out what impact that would have had on his conviction.
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