For many years, Egypt has been reporting one of the highest and worst rates of road accidents around the world. It is a tragedy in the full sense of the word; almost no single day goes by without many lives taken in car accidents whether on motorways or city roads. The victims are not only Egyptians but also foreign visitors, with tourist buses quite often involved in collisions with trucks. Thank God tourists still risk it and come to Egypt. The many road accidents in the country indeed raise several question marks. What is the cause of it? What is the government doing about it? Is it related to poor road quality? Is it the fault of drivers? I think the main responsibility rests with the government. In other countries, it is the government that is responsible for setting regulations to make sure that roads are safe for use and drivers abide by safety instructions. A new traffic law has been recently introduced but unfortunately it seems so far to have failed to bring an end to the ongoing tragedies on roads. Perhaps, the law itself has a problem. It is quite fair to think that the people’s lives have become so cheap. I remember a bridge near an archaeological site in Cairo with a structural fault that claimed the lives of many people who died after their cars slipped off the side of the bridge. After many fatal accidents the authorities had kindly banned drivers from using the bridge overnight! Maximum speed signs apparently have no existence in Cairo roads. A driver can drive as fast as he likes anywhere inside the densely populated city. Is it impossible to learn from Western countries where drivers can sometimes be obliged to drive as slow as 20 m/h in some areas inside cities? Western countries apply strict traffic rules to ensure as maximum safety for citizens as possible, something we, unfortunately, have failed to do, maybe because indeed people’s lives are cheap in our country. **Hamza is a regular contributing to Bikya Masr. He is a long-time Editor based in London. BM
