CAIRO: “Am I driving too fast?!" An interesting question coming from a woman who, in the course of thirty minutes, almost crashed into two cars and forced a pedestrian to employ some extreme matrix moves to avoid being run over. Driving in Cairo is akin to the funfair game of dodgems, but with more severe consequences. The government agency CAPMAS found that some 7,000 people were killed on Egypt's roads and railways in 2010. With the growth in population and increase in population density, this number is likely to have increased even further since then. While issues with road maintenance and infrastructure account for some of the crashes, up to 73 percent of accidents are attributed to human error. Partly this is a result of poor law enforcement at both the driving test stage and on the roads, but simple selfishness plays a significant role. A student in Cairo told Bikyamasr.com he has crashed his car 13 times. Each time, he purchases a new vehicle and the cycle continues. “I drive fast so people stay out of my way" he says, “I am addicted to speed." 19 percent of accidents in 2010 were caused by speeding, reflecting the prevalent mind-set of those who drive in Cairo. The attitude seems to be an insatiable desire to move from one place to another as quickly as possible no matter what stands in the way. Overtake vehicles, zig-zag between them and swerve across a triple lane highway when a turn-off approaches. There is no need to worry about surprising other vehicles, that is what the horn is for of course. Microbuses are the worst culprits for speeding and attempting to squeeze where they should not. The more trips they make, the more money they obtain. Drivers have adapted techniques to protect themselves against the onslaught of Cairo's microbuses and other road vehicles. “I like to use other cars as a shield when I turn out into the road" says a young Egyptian woman studying and working in Cairo. As for pedestrians, a flash of headlights, nod of the drivers head or a wave of their hand generally means the path is clear. In the absence of these signals, pedestrians often have to brace themselves and hope for the best. A hand raised in the direction of approaching traffic usually helps. The chaos of Cairo's roads should be more likely to keep pedestrians alert, but for some reason complacency seems to be the norm. There certainly appears to be a certain power amongst pedestrians, and quite rightly too as underpasses and overpasses are few and far between making road crosses a frequent challenge. Sometimes driving attitudes which appear careless on the surface reflect the deeper problems in Egyptian society. Families of 6 squeezed onto a rickety motorcycle without helmets are not an infrequent sight in Cairo. Yet, if existing subsidized transport such as the metro does not expand to cover the areas of the city they need, then it is no surprise that some families have adopted the motorbike as a solution. Despite the dangers associated with this form of transport, at least motorcycle families have adopted a fuel-efficient mode of transport, carrying multiple individuals at once. Elsewhere, fuel-guzzling cars transporting just one person are a regular occurrence. This is selfish in two crucial ways. The first is the unnecessarily large carbon footprint these individuals create. The second is that the existence of these solitary drivers implies a much greater number of cars on the road and increased traffic congestion. Clearly drivers are at fault, but the Egyptian government and law-enforcing authorities are exacerbating the situation by being complacent. There exist rules and fines which provide an image of progress but in reality these are rarely enforced, besides by the occasional policeman looking for some extra income who is just as likely to stop a guilty driver as an innocent one. Driving without a seatbelt, allowing children to sit in the front seat, or driving against the traffic can all result in fines, yet these instances occur regularly without penalty. In a word, Cairo's traffic is chaotic. Lanes are rarely used, traffic lights are vastly underprovided, seatbelts are seldom worn and even the driver will frequently buckle up just to go through a check point and immediately release himself again. A journey by road in the city is accompanied by a cacophony of sounds from loud music to tires screeching to taxi drivers calling for custom and the relentless beeping of horns. Not everyone is a selfish or careless driver in Cairo, but the chances of encountering one are high. Even if you are lucky enough to encounter only placid and attentive drivers, there are still the issues of dangerous road maintenance, misunderstandings over the right-of way and poor law enforcement. What Cairo really needs is “collective de-selfishing" on the part of drivers, the government and law-enforcing authorities to improve road safety, traffic congestion and the environment.
