A hazardous scene commonly glimpsed on the road is of a driver holding a child while driving. Nothing can better highlight the ignorance of traffic hazards and rules than such an incident since, knowingly, no parent would ever use his or her child as a human shield.
In April 2007 the United Nations drew attention to the importance of safety on the road by featuring awareness for young drivers. The highest proportion of those exposed to death or injury on the road fell in this age group. The aim was to raise the degree of awareness of the social effects of death or injury, and to convey an invitation to follow procedures of protection such as wearing seat belts and sticking to speed limits.
Child safety
Safety first on the road, however, is an awareness that ought to be stressed much earlier than driving age. One of the few Egyptian NGOs concerned with the matter is the Safety on the Road society which, in May 2006, was able to secure a grant from the American Agency for International Development (AID), to the tune of $73.859, to apply a project to teach children about road safety. The budget was used to supply educative material in Arabic for the children, including Internet games aimed at teaching children traffic rules.
The very popular TV programme “Sesame World”—the Egyptianised version of Sesame Street, which has been running since August 2000—has been a very useful vehicle of spreading awareness of road safety. Children learn how to manage vehicles, and the importance of safety belts and general traffic rules are highlighted.
Donkey accidents
In his book Napoleon in Egypt, Paul Stratton wrote that French troops demolished certain buildings in Cairo reportedly to open up crowded districts and reduce the rising number of donkey accidents. But Egyptians were not fooled by the occupier’s alleged interest in maintaining accident-free roads. They realised that the real reason was to make the streets wide enough for the occupying forces to secure a presence there. This was one of the main reasons behind the first Cairo revolution of 1798, when Egyptians protested that the occupation forces were motivated by their own benefit and not the interests of Egyptians. It is true that donkey accidents were common, but the occupation forces did not levy fines for not reining in donkeys or exceeding the determined speed.
Donkey-carts are still a major means of transport in the countryside.
Egyptians and automobiles
The first car to arrive in Egypt was one owned by Prince Aziz Hassan, grandson of Khedive Ismaïl, who brought in a French-manufactured steam-vehicle in 1890. It was certainly intended for entertainment rather than a means of transport. From the late 19th century until the early 1920s, horse-drawn carriages were the main means of transport for the rich. In 1904 Prince Hassan travelled with his steam-vehicle from Cairo to Alexandria, accompanied by two friends. During his journey, the maximum speed did not exceed 20km an hour, a high speed compared with a carriage. Since there was no road in Egypt suitable for vehicles the 200km-journey took 10 hours. If it was tough for the prince it was a nightmare for the peasants because the prince had to pass through farmland and ran over some sheep and goats. This aroused the peasants’ anger towards such an odd invention, and they thought the prince’s vehicle was driven by the devils.
First accident
The first person to die in a car accident was a 44-year-old mother of two, Bridget Driscoll, who was killed on her way to watch a dance show in London with her daughter in August 1896. She was hit by a car while crossing the road, and eyewitnesses said the driver, who was a young man, was driving erratically because he was busy examining the specifications of that new invention, the motor car. Others claimed the young driver was trying to show off to a woman. This mistake did little to prevent further fatal accidents: it was just the first of millions.
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