WATANI International
2 October 2011
It was only the other day that I was graciously given a ride home by a cousin. It was Friday morning and the traffic was very light so I was surprised to find the driver suddenly swerve, head towards the sidewalk in the middle of the road, and stop. Before I had the chance to ask why he had done that, I found a heavy truck come zooming down the road at full speed on the alley where we had been just seconds ago. I thanked God for the light traffic; otherwise we would have been devoured by the giant vehicle.
Egypt has one of the highest levels of road accidents in the world. Statistics issued by the Ministry of Health and the office of the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Egypt show there were 7,398 fatalities on the roads last year compared with 6,486 in 2009, with 11,4973 injured of whom thousands were left disabled. Half the fatalities were car drivers, while another 20 per cent were pedestrians.
With this in mind, Egypt has been chosen by the Bloomberg Foundation, together with nine other countries to launch a road safety project, RS 10, aimed at limiting accidents.
Fasten your seatbelt
The ‘Safety on the Roads’ project was launched on the sideline of the UN General Assembly initiative to make the decade from 2011 to 2020 one of safety on the road. On the day following the launch of the initiative, I attended an induction event where I learnt that 53 per cent of all accidents take place on major highways and in off-peak traffic, especially on public holidays. High speed tops the list of accident causes, with statistics revealing that accident rates are much higher in South Sinai.
So what led the UN to devote the next decade to taking global steps to cut road accidents? Latest available statistics register an annual 1.3 million victims worldwide, and more than 50 million injured. The loss is not only loss of life, but also loss of health, and reflects negatively on the economy. If accidents were to continue at a similar rate, the number of people dying in accidents would be more than those dying of heart disease and HIV/AIDS combined. Road accidents are currently the third cause of death worldwide.
A few years ago Egypt woke up to the danger of road accidents and their causes, which led it to hold its first national conference to look for a way to limit traffic injuries.
Since 1994, all injuries are listed in Ministry of Health hospitals. And in 1996, a national committee was formed to work to reduce injuries from accidents on the road; it included the ministries of health, transport, interior, education and the General Authority of Roads and Bridges and land transport. In 2003, the National Council for Safety on the Roads (NCSR) was formed under the General Traffic Department of the Ministry of Interior, reporting directly to the prime minister’s office.
With the world
The countries chosen for the road project are Brazil, Cambodia, China, Egypt, India, Kenya, Mexico, Russia, Turkey and Vietnam. Egypt is the only participating country from the Middle East
“The project will allow Egypt to be a partner in applying international safety standards; and the existence of a specialised national council for safety will help greatly,” says Naïma al-Qasseer, regional manager and representative of WHO in Egypt. “The responsibilities will be divided between looking at the reasons of the high rate of accidents and attempting to decrease injuries by adherence to the standards of the WHO.”
Before 1999, accidents were the ninth cause of death in Egypt. Since then they have gradually risen to reach one third.
“The WHO encourages countries to apply requisite safety standards, depending on the existence of several major factors,” Ms Qasseer explained. “First is a road network that is safe for all users especially those more subject to dangers such as pedestrians and bike riders, including push bikes and motor bikes. Second is modern technology and information systems that play an important role in discovering the reasons of accidents and help in finding solutions. Providing quick aid is important to lessen injuries and disabilities for road injuries, which consume between 1 and 2 per cent of the national income.”
Cameras
Why did traffic squads disappear off our roads? Does it have anything to do with absence of security and police on streets in the wake of the 25 January Revolution? These squads used to position themselves at a different spot every day on the main roads, and it was their duty to check the validity of licences and ensure that traffic regulations were being obeyed. Even though most drivers hated them—the popular denotation of traffic squads was “ambushes”—they did manage to enforce some order on the roads.
Watani took the question to NCSR council member General Ayman al-Dabee. “Matters are now 100 per cent back to normal,” General Dabee said. “But traffic squads have been replaced by mobile monitor units with cameras, radar and motorbikes.”
For the initial two years the project will be applied on the ring road around Cairo, and the Corniche and Gamal Abdel-Nasser Street in Alexandria. “Other regions will be added within three years,” General Dabee informed.
“The main causes of road accidents in Egypt,” he said, “are high speed followed by human factors such as driving under the effect of drugs or drinks, exhaustion, disregarding the safe-space rule between vehicles, depreciation of tyres and not checking cars and brakes frequently.”
Awareness first
“A large number of accidents and fatalities are caused by poor awareness of traffic principles and disregard of rules,” General Dabee said. “That’s why the project will include an awareness plan in the media. There will be also cooperation with the Ministry of Education to teach children about traffic rules early in life, as well as training sessions for drivers in various fields such as drivers of tours buses.”
Magdy Bakr, a spokesman for WHO and the general coordinator for the project in Egypt told Watani that the largest part of the aid package will be modern cameras that should help monitor the speeding on roads. The other part will be financial to make the necessary amendments to traffic laws, create a database that will help in developing plans, and spread public awareness. Egypt needs well-planned media campaigns to inform the public of the principles of considerate, correct, safe driving; as well as environmental issues, road and vehicle safety, and other relevant topics where driving is concerned.
Lifesaver
Mr Bakr’s words strongly brought to mind the topic of seatbelts. Among the firstfruits of the NCSR’s work was a new legislation passed in 2005 which for the first time in Egypt decreed that all vehicles should be equipped with seat belts and that driving without fastened seatbelts is a traffic violation that warrants a fine.
Yet the Egyptian public did not take kindly to the new regulations; many thought them both unnecessary and too confining. If anything, this reflects poor awareness of how a seatbelt may be a lifesaver, and that incorrect driving practices may lead to injury or death.
A friend of mine noticed a driver who had on his lap his toddler son while he drove. My friend gently approached him with the remark that his son would probably be the first victim should an accident occur, and advised that the little boy should be placed on the back seat and properly protected. “Don’t I wish that everybody would mind their own business!” the driver puffed. “That would be easy,” my friend retorted, “but if an accident does occur and something happens to this dear little boy, I should never forgive myself for having not warned you.”