Deficiencies in national transport are again in the spotlight following yet another tragic accident Living dangerously Yet more road deaths highlight the chaos that afflicts transport in Egypt, reports Mohamed El-Sayed Last week's road accident in the governorate of Matrouh, which left 44 people dead and 35 injured after a truck pushed waiting traffic into the path of a speeding train, marks a new nadir in Egypt's road safety record. A bus was among the vehicles pushed into the path of the train. Two train carriages overturned and another two were derailed. Initial investigations suggest that the trailer's brakes were faulty, causing it to collide with vehicles at the level-crossing and push them forward. Minister of Transport, Mohamed Mansour further claims that the driver of the trailer was speeding. "The road leading to the level crossing meets with established standards," Mansour said. "The technical reports submitted by ad hoc committees stress that the operation of the level crossing was safe." According to news reports, the families of married victims will receive LE5,000 in compensation, those of single victims LE1,000 while the injured will receive LE300 immediately and an additional LE500 after they recover. Experts have claimed that the poor state of repair of the nation's level crossings is responsible for many accidents, and call for them to be replaced by bridges. "Tunnels or bridges should be built, especially in areas where traffic is dense," says Abdel-Hamid Al-Ashwah, a transport expert. "This will significantly reduce accidents and help improve traffic flow." Mansour stressed that there was an "ongoing plan to upgrade the railways which will be completed within 18 months". Other experts point out that whatever the condition of the level crossing at Matrouh initial investigations all point to human error being behind the tragedy. Trailers have been repeatedly implicated in road accidents in Egypt. A recent study conducted by the Ministry of Transport, in cooperation with the Ministry of Interior, revealed that heavy- duty trucks were involved in a majority of accidents on Egyptian roads. "Out of the 1,421 road accidents that occurred only on highways in 2005, heavy-duty trailers caused 1,364," said the study. The study also showed that 30 per cent of trailer drivers tested showed positive results for drug use. The study encouraged the Ministry of Interior to press for the ban on the use of trailers in the recently amended traffic law. Lawmakers, however, rejected the idea of banning them completely, allowing more than 55,000 trailers to remain on the roads for up to four years. The law, instead, bans the import or manufacture of new trailers. "Trailers are behind the majority of road accidents [in Egypt]," wrote Al-Ahram columnist Salah Montasser, "which is why most countries have already banned them." Makram Mohamed Ahmed, Press Syndicate chairman, agrees. "This latest accident shows the extent of negligence in licensing heavy-duty trucks which are unroadworthy. The Matrouh tragedy has highlighted the dangerous role lobby groups can play. It was the business lobby that pressed for the article in the new traffic law banning the use of trailers to be changed." The Matrouh tragedy is the latest in a spate of transport disasters in Egypt, most of them the result of negligence and poor maintenance. At least 58 people were killed and 144 injured in August 2006 when a passenger train slammed into the back of another on the same track, derailing carriages and setting one train alight. Egypt's deadliest rail disaster occurred in February 2002 when a passenger using a primus stove set ablaze a train heading south, killing at least 361 people. Reckless driving, lax implementation of traffic rules and poor road conditions cause many road crashes. Road accidents, the second highest cause of death in Egypt, result in LE4 billion of losses to the national economy, i.e. three per cent of the country's GDP, according to a report issued in 2006 by the Centre for Information and Decision-Making Support. The report points out that more than 7,000 people die and 32,000 are injured each year, a figure that exceeds the total number of Egyptian soldiers killed in all of Egypt's wars with Israel. Small wonder that many foreign governments -- including the US, France and Switzerland -- advise their nationals not to drive while in Egypt.
