Traffic Accidents in Egypt

Traffic accidents in Egypt continue to be a major problem as over 30 people have been killed and scores injured on the roads just this month. Official estimates place the number of deaths resulting from road accidents in Egypt at around 6000 to 8000 per year with tens of thousands of injuries. In August 2008, the government began to implement a new traffic law in an attempt to alleviate some of Egypt’s traffic problems, including banning the use of cell phones without headsets, requiring taxi drivers to wear seatbelts (which they usually only do when they see a policeman, and even then often just sling the belt over themselves without securing it), and fines for driving on the wrong side of the road. It is not clear after driving around the streets of Cairo that the new law has had any real effect.

Traffic problems in Egypt are a result of human error but also of legal and physical deficiencies. Poor urban planning and poorly maintained roads lead to congestion, speeding, and dangerous conditions. Licenses can be bought with bribes meaning a lack of driver education, and many vehicles are not properly maintained. There is overcrowding on public transportation and especially on minibuses, which are often packed to the brim with passengers and driven by young, inexperienced drivers.

In December of last year, a speeding, overcrowded bus plunged into a canal in the town of Minya, south of Cairo, killing upwards of 60 people. It was one of the worst traffic accidents in recent Egyptian history. A quick look at Egypt’s daily newspapers reveals a steady stream of accidents at about a rate of 1-2 per month at least in the past six months, resulting in not only injuries but often deaths. And these are only the accidents which are reported.

Egyptians are of course upset about traffic conditions and the state of transportation in their country and some of the blame should surely fall on their own shoulders–after all they are the ones driving the vehicles. But this issue also points to larger problems such as government negligence, or its inability, to properly take care of its citizens and keep them safe on the roads. The government has made an effort to provide a stronger police presence on certain major highways, but the patrols are limited and the egregious disregard of the law has made its implementation difficult. Corruption, as usual, is also a problem. For example, the new traffic law stipulates that drivers must carry reflective “stop” triangular signs and first aid kits, but there have been problems supplying these to drivers, some news reports claim, as a result of “businessmen vying to supply them and in the process make a healthy profit.”

In addition, the majority of deadly accidents take place not in downtown Cairo but in the city’s outskirts or in more suburban or rural areas (read “poor areas”). On the road out to the AUC campus in New Cairo, day-laborers get rides to and from work piled into the backs of pickup trucks and minibuses going as fast as the Enterprise at warp 9. It is also not surprising to see people riding on the blades of bulldozers.

In another example, truck drivers have gone on strike protesting a new addition to the traffic law which would ban the use of certain large trailers as of January 2011. The government claims these trailers cause a disproportionate number of traffic accidents per year and must be taken off the road, despite the crucial role their services play in Egypt’s economy. The drivers, of course, see this as an attack on their livelihood and the issue has caused a spike in the price of cement and other goods in Egypt.