Photo credit: walidhassanein

 

 
Traffic congestion in Cairo — are new traffic laws the solution?

Shaima Abulhajj, Cairo Community Manager

 

Cairo is one of the busiest hubs in the world and the amount of traffic that flows in and out of the city every day is staggering. However, traffic congestion is caused not only by the number of vehicles available on road, but also the lack of parking spaces, the absence of highway monitoring systems, poor road condition, and constant traffic violations that go unnoticed or unaddressed by the authorities.

Traffic congestion and traffic accidents are nothing new, as they've been occurring for many years. In 2012, the World Health Organization found that each year, nearly 12,000 people die in traffic accidents in Egypt. These accidents are due in part to the poor construction of roads, and lack of street lights and traffic signals. On top of the large human losses, there is a four percent loss in Egypt's annual gross domestic product due to traffic congestion in Cairo.

There have been various initiatives seeking a solution, some of which have shown signs of success. The Egyptian Society of Road Safety has conducted various workshops to raise awareness of driving rules, road safety techniques and applicable laws for both drivers and pedestrians.

Also, Egypt is one of the ten countries included in the Road Safety in 10 Countries (RS10) project. This project is carried out by the Johns Hopkins International Injury Research Unit with technical support from a consortium of road safety partners, including, but not limited to, the World Health Organization, Global Road Safety Partnership, Johns Hopkins University, and the Association for Safe International Road Travel. The expected goal of RS10 in Egypt is to support the Egyptian government in implementing effective practices to reduce traffic collision-related deaths. The project has already been successful in the past few years in organizing a risk management workshop on speed, leading to improved street conditions for drivers and pedestrians.

On the legal level, a new traffic law has been formulated by the Egyptian traffic administration. According to this new law, serious offenses such as using cars in demonstrations, parking in no-parking spaces, and driving without a license plate or with an expired driving license would lead to imprisonment. The new law proposes a fine of 5000 EGP for those found driving in the wrong direction, and a fine of 2000 EGP for driving cars with tinted windows. The new law also proposes to fine those who fail to have a first-aid kit in their cars. The Cabinet has also proposed to stop importing tok-toks (three-wheeled motorized vehicles), which are the source of most accidents in Cairo. Lastly, the new law introduces a point system whereby traffic offenses lead to points, and if more than 30 points are acquired within one year, the license would be cancelled. The content of these laws will be shared through educational programs with youth and other parties in order to build awareness that will help to leverage the safety standards on the Egyptian roads.

The Egyptian Road Administration also proposes to make GPS devices compulsory for every car, in order to reduce traffic congestion and road accidents. The key now is to properly enforce these new laws in Cairo to control the number of road accidents. The Supreme Council for Safety on Roads can, and should, play a pivotal role in promoting traffic awareness and in improving the road condition to make driving in Cairo safe.

 

Photo credit: walidhassanein