“The cabinet's decision to restrict traffic hours for trucks inside cities to night time will be strictly enforced,” Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb said on Saturday during a meeting with Minister of Interior Mohamed Ibrahim and Cairo Governor Galal Al-Said. A cabinet decree, issued on 5 November, limiting the traffic hours for trucks inside cities to between 11:00pm and 6:00am has been applied since Saturday. A series of deadly road accidents prompted the government to issue the decree and to amend traffic laws to beef up penalties for traffic violations. “Restrictions on trucks' hours are limited to cities,” said Director of the General Traffic Department Mustafa Darwish. There will be no restrictions on highways, desert and agricultural roads or ring roads. Yet most road accidents, including three road crashes in the last month that left 59 dead, occur on highways. “The cabinet's decision excludes trucks transporting food commodities and petroleum products. Light trucks will also be able to deliver cargos inside cities at any time,” says Darwish. “Highways and the ring road, on which trucks are allowed any time, will see enhanced traffic campaigns including the installation of surveillance cameras and speed radars.” Minister of Transport Hani Dahi said trucks delivering newspapers would also be excluded from the restriction of traffic hours for trucks within cities. The minister told state-run news agency MENA that excluding trucks delivering newspapers reflects “appreciation for the role of media and the message it delivers”. On the second day of applying the decree 309 trucks were seized for violating the new timings and 300 drivers apprehended for driving under the influence of drugs, says the General Traffic Department. “I want someone to tell me where all the trucks that reach cities during the day will park,” says truck driver Ibrahim Zalat. “If they are just to remain stationary on the sides of highways there will be complete gridlock.” According to Darwish “should a truck reach the capital from the Cairo-Alexandria desert road during ban time the driver will be able to take the ring road” until he can legally enter the city. Fines for breaking the ban will be set at the discretion of governors and will range from LE200 to LE300, added Darwish. According to a June report by the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS) road accidents rose by 0.4 per cent between 2012 and 2013. Saad Geioshi, chairman of the General Authority for Roads and Bridges, says restricting hours for trucks within cities is just one aspect of the authorities' strategy to improve road safety and “other measures that will be announced soon”. Many experts say overloaded trucks have caused a massive deterioration in the road network which in turn leads to accidents. The condition of Egypt's roads, says Dahi, has long been compromised by inappropriate use. “A committee including Geioshi and Darwish is coordinating with truck drivers to determine the weight lorries can carry. The maximum load is expected to be 13 tonnes,” says Dahi. On 22 July President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi launched a national project to improve the road network by constructing or upgrading 39 roads with a total length of 4,400 km. The scheme has been budgeted at LE36 billion. Contracts are being divided between the ministries of transport, housing and defence. The first phase of the project, allotted to the Transport Ministry, is for 14 roads with a total length of 1200km to be finished in one year. Six per cent of the first phase of the national road project has been completed, says Dahi. “Maintenance work is being carried out on 1900km of roads and 1400 bridges and the ministry is pushing for rapid completion of these projects.”
